Report: Unprecedented vacancies in health care professions

A new report from the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) found that an aging workforce and a spike in worker departures have created unprecedented levels of vacancy rates in health care professions in 2021. The WHA’s 2022 Health Care Workforce Report revealed that the state’s large nursing shortage is due to burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as retirements. The pent-up demand for delayed care contributed to health care worker burnout, along with the demand on hospital and health system staff to educate their communities about COVID-19 spread and ways to avoid infection, administer COVID-19 vaccines, and conduct COVID-19 testing.