'Staff are burning out': How a workforce crisis is affecting healthcare in Greater Newport

On Tuesday, January 10, the Newport County Community Healthcare Collaborative hosted a Zoom meeting with lawmakers to address policy and objectives as the healthcare sector recovers from the pandemic and manages what business leaders are referring to as a staffing crisis. As the third year of the pandemic's response approaches, Child & Family CEO Marty Sinnott, who has served as the NCCHC board's chair for the past year, began the meeting by thanking and praising the local communities' health and human service staff in Newport and Bristol counties, saying, "Frankly, those that are in direct service, clinical capacity, and direct capacity, I have tremendous respect for. We still have a ways to go because this has been a long struggle.

Some of the challenges of the global workforce crisis include: 

1. Shortage of healthcare workers: There is a significant shortage of healthcare workers globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

      2. Aging workforce: Many healthcare workers are nearing retirement age, which will exacerbate the shortage of healthcare workers in the future.

     3. Migration of healthcare workers: Many healthcare workers are leaving low- and middle-income countries to work in developed countries, further exacerbating the shortage of healthcare workers.

     4. Lack of investment in healthcare workforce development: Many countries do not invest enough resources in training and education programs for healthcare workers.

    5. Inequalities in distribution of healthcare workers: There are often inequalities in the distribution of healthcare workers within countries, with rural & underserved areas having fewer healthcare workers than urban areas.

   6.Lack of incentives for health workers to stay in remote rural areas

   7. Inadequate pay and working conditions leading to high turnover rates among healthcare workers