| Hospital Health Employee Pilot Study 2003 |
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Vermont Health Workforce Assessment Survey PREPARED BY: OFFICE OF NURSING WORKFORCE RESEARCH, PLANNING, AND DEVELOPMENT University of Vermont, College of Nursing and Health
Sciences
Notes and References: 1. HWAT members are from the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, School of Business Administration, Community and Economic Development, Bioinformatics, College of Medicine AHEC program and Fletcher Allen Health Care. The team was funded by the VT Dept. of Health, Office of Rural Health. 2.Vacancy rates were calculated as follows: 1 – (Total actual FTEs employed from all responding institutions divided by the total budgeted FTEs from all responding institutions) as of 2/15/03. 3. Turnover rates were calculated as follows: Total # workers leaving institution between 2/15/02 – 2/15/03 divided by total # part-time + full-time workers employed as of 2/15/03. |
WHY WAS THIS SURVEY DONE? Workforce shortages affecting any area of the hospital healthcare team can impact the ability to provide quality care for Vermonters. The Health Workforce Assessment Team (HWAT)1 was charged to develop a new system to assess Vermont’s healthcare workforce, including new ways to measure the state’s need for various healthcare positions. The following is a report of the 2003 pilot survey of the state’s 16 hospitals. Adaptations will be made to this survey as a result of this pilot. WHO WAS SURVEYED? In February 2003, the Vermont Health Workforce Survey was sent to all hospital nurse executives. This contact person was asked to participate in the data collection with assistance from human relations and other department heads as needed. The response rate was 81% (13 of 16 hospitals responded). WHAT WAS LEARNED?
CONCLUSIONS: The fact that six professions have vacancy rates that exceed 12%, as found in this pilot survey, should be cause for concern. Vermont’s nursing shortage is considered a detriment to quality care with a statewide vacancy rate of 12%. Despite smaller numbers of non-nurse hospital health employees, in the aggregate, these other health professions represent a sizable portion of the total health workforce and these shortages need to be addressed. The hospital health workforce remains challenging to measure. The results of this survey differ from a similar in- state vacancy survey done in 2003. The necessary information about budgeted FTEs, addressing organizational needs, recruitment difficulties and demand for services should ideally come from department heads. Yet the number of departments and the variety of health care disciplines make it difficult to locate and survey these individuals. Therefore, the human resources department is usually contacted for the information. The expense of telephone interviews to all department heads may be justified to gain the most accurate information. Accurate data is needed for educational and policy planning purposes. |
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| (C) 2002, Office
of Nursing Workforce Research, Planning and Development School of Nursing, University of Vermont Burlington, VT 05405, phone 802-656-0023 |
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