McKnight’s recently released its 2021 Mood of the Market survey results, which polled 627 long-term care administrators and nurse managers on the state of their profession. Not surprisingly, the survey results were pretty dismal compared to the same responses in 2020.
When asked, “Has the pandemic made you more likely to leave the profession?” 29.4% said “yes, definitely,” compared to 17% in 2020, while the diehards who responded, “No way,” dropped nine points from 33% to 24%.
Pandemic Burnout
Given the extreme circumstances they’ve been under the past 20 months with no clear light out of the tunnel now that the Delta variant has reared its ugly head, administrators and DONs are exhausted. Many are working extended hours and picking up floor shifts, because they’re understaffed.
Staffing shortages are the biggest challenge in healthcare and even more so in long-term care, but there are ways to remedy this. AI technologies can assist your staff and help them care for more residents with fewer resources and better outcomes, especially for residents who are considered a high fall risk.
AI to the Rescue
High-risk residents usually require extra staff, which isn’t feasible in current times. VSTAlert uses AI technology to monitor residents in real time and notify staff 30-65 seconds before they get up. Alerts are immediately sent to staff so they can get to them before they are out of bed. VSTAlert is 98% effective and it only sends. 5 false alarms per day, so staff aren’t wasting their time running room-to-room.
The one bright spot in the McKnight’s survey is that 98% of respondents find their work meaningful, which isn’t something that can be said if you work as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant. Investing in an AI-enabled technology like VSTAlert, empowers your staff to focus on the meaningful work—i.e. resident care—and not the busy work created by false alarms and the lengthy documentation required after a fall.
