vascular access infection prevention
By Cate Brennan , MBA , CAE
The Great Resignation : Mitigate With Continuing Education and Community
Like other professional societies , AVA can help chief administrators and clinical educators provide expert , researchbased continuing education that will improve the skills and knowledge of providers .
Effective , targeted continuing education ( CE ) can have an immediate impact on the staff retention matrix and hospital quality measures .”
The Great Resignation , coupled with staffing disruptions caused by COVID-19 sick days and pre-pandemic shortages , continue to surge through healthcare systems and every type of healthcare setting and profession . The impact on patients across the continuum of care is significant . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the overall healthcare workforce is down 2.7 percent from February 2020 .
Nursing homes and other “ beyond acute-care ” settings have been hit the hardest . The hospital workforce is down 1.8 percent from February 2020 . The current conditions in hospital systems could be called The Big Shift because lower-skilled healthcare workers are moving from traditionally low-wage jobs to new job categories that can offer better career growth and salaries . These transformations are good for the individuals but leave yet another gap to fill . Healthcare leaders also are contending with growing gaps for specialists , like vascular access specialists . It ’ s an understatement to say staff recruitment and retention is stressed .
According to a 2021 Nursing Solutions Inc . National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report , the average cost of turnover for a bedside RN is $ 40,038 . The turnover rate for staff RNs was 18.7 percent in 2020 , a 2.8 percent increase from 2019 . Also in 2020 , the average turnover rate for an APRN was 8.9 percent , PA was 9.2 percent , respiratory therapist was 18.6 percent , radiologic technologist was 18.8 percent and certified nursing assistant was 27.5 percent . The Association for Vascular Access ( AVA ), a nonprofit multi-disciplinary professional society , is concerned with the turnover rates because it delivers specialty continuing education , and other member benefits , to all these providers , in addition to physicians and infection prevention specialists .
So how do the chief administrators and leaders at hospitals , nursing homes and health systems combat these cemented trends to improve provider retention and satisfaction ? There is no single answer because it all depends on local conditions . But experts agree that parts of the retention matrix are improved working conditions , higher wages , financial support for improving skills and knowledge , and a commitment to team-based and patient-centered care .
Vascular access is the most common invasive procedure performed in healthcare , with more than 380 million placements of peripheral intravenous catheters
( PIVCs ) placed in patients annually in the U . S . But how many providers are learning vascular access and other procedures from non-experts ? What is the cost to a new provider ’ s confidence and a patient ’ s safety and satisfaction ? What is the cost to the healthcare system in staff retention and satisfaction ?
Like other professional societies , AVA can help chief administrators and clinical educators provide expert , research-based continuing education that will improve the skills and knowledge of providers . Effective , targeted continuing education ( CE ) can have an immediate impact on the staff retention matrix and hospital quality measures . But to do this , healthcare systems must reverse the decades-long steady decline of financial support for continuing education and professional memberships that benefit the staff provider . Most providers want choices in their continuing education , choices that directly benefit them and fill their knowledge gaps .
CE is more than an employer-provided online course or virtual webinar , though there is certainly a place for those platforms . CE is also the peerbased community that membership provides . This irreplaceable community provides needed context and ongoing support long after the CE is completed . In almost all cases , the cost of a professional membership more than pays for itself in free CE . The benefit to the hospital or healthcare system includes improved provider satisfaction because they have a choice in their CE and a support system . This is true of AVA and our other nonprofit colleagues like APIC , AANP , AARC , ASRT , AMT and NAHCA , to name a few .
The retirement trend is impacting vascular access teams , and there is a growing gap of VA specialists in the workforce . To address this growing shortage , AVA developed and offers its
Fundamentals of Peripheral Intravenous Vascular Access™ , a free three-course curriculum to pre-licensure nursing , medical and allied health academic programs . The goal of the curriculum is to prepare new providers and make them competent and confident at the start of their career . A shorter Fundamentals course for practicing providers will be released in late 2022 .
Provider competency in vascular access is critical , given its status as the most common invasive procedure healthcare .
ACE by AVA is an innovative education , skills development and competency verification method . Its goal is to provide improved training