Advocacy

Support and Protect the Workforce

Nurse with stethoscope

The last few years have taken a heavy toll on frontline healthcare teams who have suffered from stress, trauma, and burnout.

The COVID-19 response and its resulting challenges have left nurses, doctors, and other caregivers experiencing burnout, with some considering early retirement and others simply leaving acute care or healthcare altogether. Shortages that have been building in healthcare professions for years are now critical, most acute in nursing, but felt across disciplines.

CHA continues to call for action to support the ongoing efforts in hospitals to support the workforce.

Support the Workforce

Connecticut needs a whole system approach, addressing shortages in all healthcare disciplines such as nursing, respiratory, radiology, pharmacy, and EMS.

CHA has advocated for:

State funding for recruitment, retention, and training for healthcare workers in all disciplines and for relief from the increased cost of contract labor and crucial staffing premium pay
Efforts to identify opportunities to support basics needs, like housing, transportation, and child care, for residents pursuing career opportunities in healthcare
Review of laws, regulations, and state initiatives that add staff burden and negatively influence retention
Examination of how modifications to regulations regarding education and experience would increase the number of candidates for employment
Support for approaches that create healthcare career pathways to help reduce barriers to careers in healthcare
State approval of interstate licensing compacts

Protect the Workforce

We also need continued collaboration to address workplace violence. Nationwide, healthcare workers are uniquely and disproportionately at risk of workplace violence. We need to make it clear to every care provider that violence is not tolerated and our state, our hospitals, and our communities have their backs.

Connecticut hospitals, through the Connecticut Hospital Association, recently adopted a Statewide Patient and Family Code of Conduct Policy, a common set of principles being implemented in a unified effort by hospitals to further their extensive work to protect healthcare workers and the patients in their care and raise awareness about the importance of workplace safety in healthcare settings.

Connecticut must not let up on efforts to ensure the safety of every person in hospitals across the state and show our healthcare workers the respect, gratitude, and support they deserve.