Given the pre-pandemic prevalence of population health disparities and inequity between rural and urban communities—and the difficulty rural hospitals face in recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals—two points of emphasis in our research over the last year have emerged: vaccine resistance and nurse staffing shortages.
Our latest survey of rural hospital executives reveals that staffing shortages—particularly among nurses—will cast a long shadow over rural healthcare in the post-pandemic environment. Addressing shortages or finding more economical solutions will become a prominent factor in how care is delivered on a day-to-day basis as well as in larger, more strategic decisions aimed at meeting unmet needs within these vulnerable communities.
In hospitals where mandates took effect in 2022, one-third of survey respondents expected to lose between 11% and 15% of healthcare personnel.
