Is it time for a new safety paradigm for hospitals?

A report by consulting firm McKinsey & Company recently reported in?The Australian?found that 41 per cent of nurses surveyed indicated they would move countries or leave nursing entirely in the next year, while 27 per cent said they would seek a direct-care nursing role at an alternative employer and 17 per cent said they would change roles at their current employer.

The retention crisis will leave an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 nursing positions unfilled by 2025, the report, titled “Should I stay, or should I go? Australia’s nurse retention dilemma”, found.

McKinsey & Company associate partner and co-author of the report Madeline Maud said while the leading reason for nurses wanting to leave their positions was remuneration, this did not take into account the importance of workplace culture in fighting the exodus.

“Of those who wanted to leave, 19 per cent were seeking higher pay; 13 per cent said they would be interested in leaving from the intensity of their work and 12 per cent were interested in leaving because of insufficient staffing levels,” she said. “But that is not the full picture. We should take that together with the response when we asked nurses, why do you stay in your role? “Overwhelmingly, what we heard back was the most important factor was the work environment, teammates, safe space and feeling valued by managers”.

So, with work environment and safety being two of the four most important factors for staff retention, it begs the question,?are many of our hospitals overdue in providing a better, safer working environment that could help to slow the talent exodus?

Technology is giving some hospitals an edge over their competitors. Here are some examples.

Reducing Manual Handling Injuries

An Australian Study?has shown manual handling activities and injuries among nurses revealed that 40% reported an injury associated with manual handling activity, of which 76% comprised back injuries. Approximately 34% of all injuries were associated with lifting patients and this activity comprised one-half of all causes associated with injuries arising from direct patient care activities.

Hospitals are increasingly introducing?Patient Lift Pendants?(PLP’s) into a variety of settings to reduce the risk of these injuries and?there are clear benefits. Take Sydney’s St George Hospital for instance. After installing PLPs into 53 ICU Bays, they had a 16% increase in FTE staff moving/mobilising patients in/out of bed and at the same time achieved a -1.3% reduction in staff injuries. Many other hospitals are realising the benefits of PLPs, including?SA’s Lyell McEwin Hospital?and?Sydney’s Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital.?

Superior Infection Prevention and Control

No one wants to go to hospital to contract an infection and get sick, but as we saw reported by the?Sydney Morning Herald?back in May this year?people die from infections acquired in hospitals that would otherwise wouldn’t have died.

If bacteria and viruses abound in hospitals,?why would we subject our healthcare workers to these risks when we know there are proven technologies to reduce the risk of infection?

With?Indigo-Clean, the lighting used throughout a hospital can come with the added benefit of fighting viruses and bacteria. Indigo-Clean is safe, continuous and effective at killing SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing Covid 19), influenza A, MRSA and a list of pathogens that negatively impact health and wellness.

Hospitals such as?The Canberra Hospital?have seen the light, installing Indigo-Clean technology into the ICU (also installing PLP’s to reduce manual handling injuries). Leading New Zealand innovators Evolution Health Care have also installed Indigo-Clean into theatres in their Royston Day Surgery in Hawkes Bay, with their joint venture partners, Southern Cross in?Tauranga’s Grace Hospital?and in their Wakefield Hospital development in Wellington.?

Improved Radiation Protection

In Cardiac Cath Labs, radiation safety and protection present the greatest challenges to personnel welfare. The wearing of personal protective shielding (heavy lead aprons) has not changed significantly since the dangers of x-rays were first recognised, a little over 100 years ago.

Evolution of angiographic systems has improved image quality while achieving significant reduction of x-ray exposure to both patient and Cath Lab personnel. Despite these safety enhancements, scatter radiation continues to be an important safety concern.

However, there remain important health issues associated with the frequent and prolonged wearing of personal protective shielding. The occurrence of?orthopaedic injuries in the Cath lab can be as much as 40%. Including physical fatigue, muscular strain, orthopaedic injury (particularly back and pelvic girdle). These occupational hazards potentially result in increased of Workers compensation injury, sick leave, a reluctance to participate in prolonged procedures, and decreased longevity of the Cath Lab workforce.

But there is a solution.?Rampart?is a fully-adjustable, portable radiation shielding system that provides proven, full-bodied radiation protection for interventionalists and their teams, all without having to work under heavy aprons. Brisbane’s?The Prince Charles Hospital?was the first in Australia to adopt this innovative technology, it joins a number of?hospitals worldwide?that have employed Rampart to improve the working environment for interventionalists and in some cases, enabling them to continue performing their life saving work, where they were otherwise unable to due to the requirement to wear heavy lead aprons.?

Time to act

The cost of a nurse leaving the industry is estimated to be about $150,000 so investing in retention measures such as safer and supportive workplaces now is vital.?

Whilst there may be no silver bullet, innovative healthcare technology that provides a safer working environment for some of the most valued members in our community could go a long way to slow the talent exodus. In the case of interventionalists, it may encourage more practitioners into this area of speciality knowing that the risk of potentially harmful radiation and lifelong orthopaedic injuries could be reduced.?

And, it could give your hospital the edge when attracting new talent.?

Looking to raise the bar on safety??Talk to us.