{"id":8563,"date":"2024-08-28T16:54:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T16:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/?p=8563"},"modified":"2024-08-28T16:54:02","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T16:54:02","slug":"nurses-in-these-states-work-the-most-hours-at-ltc-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/industry-trends\/nurses-in-these-states-work-the-most-hours-at-ltc-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing Critical Shortages: Nurses in These States Work the Most Hours at LTC Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike hospital and outpatient care settings, where staffing has returned to or surpassed levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing home staffing continues to experience shortages. In recent years, a quarter of all nursing homes in the United States reported <\/span>“critical” staff shortages<\/span><\/a> amid growing demand from an aging population for long-term healthcare.<\/span><\/p>\n

To better explore the working conditions of registered nurses (RNs) in nursing homes, <\/span>Vivian Health<\/span><\/a> examined payroll data compiled by the <\/span>Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services<\/span><\/a> (CMS) to see where RNs in long-term care (LTC) facilities work the longest shifts. The data represents the average daily hours worked during the first three months of 2024, the latest data available.<\/span><\/p>\n

LTC Workforce Capacity in Decline<\/h3>\n

\"CNA<\/p>\n

Workforce capacity in nursing homes, already in decline before COVID-19, was further exacerbated by the pandemic, according to the 2023 “National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report” from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Surges of various COVID-19 variants, including Alpha, Delta and Omicron, coincided with worsening staff shortages. That crisis has only deepened. According to the AHRQ, there were 8.4% fewer nursing and residential care workers employed in January 2023 than in January 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

Factors outside COVID also contribute to critical staffing shortages in LTC facilities. Burnout among nursing home care workers plays a key role in driving staffing challenges. Occupational hazards, long working shifts, exposure to violence, low salaries and high workloads have all been shown to <\/span>correlate with high levels of burnout<\/span><\/a> among long-term care facility nurses.<\/span><\/p>\n

When nurses experiencing burnout opt for less stressful healthcare settings<\/a>, staffing shortages grow\u2014along with the responsibilities of remaining nursing home workers. In this vicious cycle, nearly <\/span>half of new nurses report working overtime<\/span><\/a>, and more than 1 in 10 nurses reported holding a second job. Newly licensed nurses, like experienced nurses, predominantly work 12-hour shifts, plus voluntary and mandatory overtime. Newly licensed nurses are also more likely to be <\/span>scheduled for less desirable time slots<\/span>, such as night shifts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The combination of long shifts, holding multiple jobs and working undesirable hours can accelerate burnout for early career nurses working in nursing homes: a dangerous outcome for an already limited workforce.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: From Empathy to Exhaustion: The Hidden Toll of Compassion Fatigue and Burnout in Nursing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Stacker<\/p>\n

RNs in Alaska and Utah Work the Longest Shifts<\/b><\/h3>\n

Workplace data from CMS shows that nurses working in Alaska, Utah, Nevada, Montana and Kentucky average the longest shifts among nurses in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alaska, where nurses work an average of 11.9-hour shifts, faces a severe nursing shortage<\/a>. There are more than 1,500 reported registered nurse vacancies, a figure expected to exceed 5,000 vacancies by 2030. A new bill signed into law in July 2024 seeks to address the nursing shortage in Alaska, citing long waits for nursing licensure that deter people from pursuing a nursing career or renewing their licenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Utah’s nursing shortage\u2014nurses here work 11.77 hours per shift on average\u2014is additionally impacted by an aging nursing population. Almost 1 in 5 Utah nurses is <\/span>approaching retirement age<\/span><\/a>. States that have large rural areas, such as Nevada, Montana and Kentucky, also face significant challenges in part due to an <\/span>uneven distribution<\/span><\/a> of workers concentrated in urban and metropolitan areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Long work shifts and staffing shortages can lead to burnout, distress and illness among nurses\u2014but they also tend to <\/span>lower the quality of care patients receive<\/span><\/a>. Nurses working longer shifts may experience increased fatigue, which can lead to errors that impact patient safety and experience. Staffing shortages have even been associated with increases in <\/span>patient mortality <\/span><\/a>rates.<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: Nursing Shortages in 2024: A State-by-State Breakdown<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

New staffing requirements issued in April 2024 aim to <\/span>address overburdened worker schedules and staff shortages<\/span><\/a>, but most nursing homes aren’t currently equipped to meet the new standards. The <\/span>American Health Care Association<\/span><\/a> (AHCA) notes that 4 out of 5 nursing homes can’t meet the requirement to have nurses on staff 24\/7. When all new requirements are combined, just 6% of operating long-term care facilities can currently achieve them.<\/span><\/p>\n

With these challenges, nursing homes are limiting admissions and are concerned about closures. AHCA reports that 66% of LTC facilities are concerned that if workforce challenges persist, they may <\/span>have to permanently close<\/span><\/a>. This prospect could be devastating for thousands of residents, families and staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Download the Vivian app<\/a> to find your next job in long-term care nursing today.<\/p>\n

Browse Jobs<\/a><\/p>\n

Feature Image Credit:<\/strong> Canva<\/em><\/small>
\nStory editing by Nicole Caldwell. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn where staffing woes are impacting nursing home staff and residents alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":8564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[110,3,108],"tags":[488,487,490,362,489,123,465,75,426,90],"class_list":["post-8563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-trends","category-career-resources","category-work-life","tag-long-term-acute-care-nurse","tag-long-term-care","tag-long-term-care-nurse","tag-lpn-lvn","tag-ltac-long-term-acute-care","tag-nursing","tag-registered-nursing","tag-rn","tag-staff","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/08\/Stacker-LTC-Facilities-Header-scaled-e1724860418977.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vivian.com\/community\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}