Give Blood (5)
To avoid negative effects, you should drink around 500 milliliters of water before donating.
You know, some 1 1/2 million healthcare jobs were lost in the first two months of the Covid-19 outbreak in this country as the U.S. raced to curb the virus by temporarily closing clinics and restricting non-emergency services at hospitals. Many of those jobs have since returned, but overall healthcare employment is still below pre-pandemic levels. Yet the need for healthcare workers has never been greater. Staffing shortages are now the nation’s top patient safety concern.
There’s no question that staff shortages are the most significant problem healthcare workers and the medical profession are experiencing-and will continue to struggle with. Lack of trained staff was a problem for many hospitals pre-pandemic, and Covid-19 has brought the situation to crisis levels. And it’s not just nurses: Professionals from medical lab workers to paramedics are in short supply.
Meanwhile, demand for health care is only going to rise as the number of seniors increases. The number of people 65 and older is projected to rise from 54 million in 2019 to more than 80 million by 2040.
While technology and workforce innovations may provide short-term relief, a smaller workforce means patients will have to become more active participants in their health care to achieve good outcomes. Unfortunately for medical workers, it looks like things will get worse in the years ahead.
