A two-fold problem is keeping healthcare providers from successfully retaining or attracting new nurses and nurse aides, new data published this week shows.
Ongoing turnover and burnout in nursing is solidifying a negative impression of the industry online — especially among young people who skilled nursing providers desperately want to attract to the workforce.
A report released Tuesday by technology services provider ShiftKey’s analyzed nearly 750,000 TikToks related to nursing. It found that 64% of the clips portrayed the job negatively.
“While social media can provide valuable insights, algorithms can often present a skewed or unrealistic view of the nursing profession, potentially deterring individuals from pursuing it,” the report explained. In contrast, Gen Z workers who had family members in nursing were 12% more likely to join the field.
The report stressed the importance of social media as a source of career information for Gen Z as they enter the workforce. Two-thirds of that generation use social media to research career options.
“Negative sentiment on social media has dissuaded those interested in the field from pursuing it,” Regan Parker, chief legal and public affairs officer at ShiftKey, told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. “This is something that desperately needs to be addressed, and we can see the impact this trend has had on long-term health facilities, and the effects may only get worse.”
Parker referred to a CNN estimate that 12,000 nurses and 77,000 nurse aides additional nurse aides will be necessary for nursing homes to meet the demands of the new federal staffing mandate.
“The lack of new nursing professionals entering the field could have devastating consequences for these facilities,” Parker said, “particularly as they already have difficulty attracting and retaining staff, including closures. It’s imperative that we embrace new strategies to continue to bring new professionals into the workforce.”
The ongoing perception of nursing in social media may be fueled by workplace trends going back to at least the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A study of nurses in 36 states during the summer of 2020 added more fuel to the fire of mental health concerns for nurses — highlighting depression symptoms as a major predictor of nurses planning to leave their jobs.
The NYU researchers noted that support from coworkers and employers were linked to higher retention, but were often lacking at healthcare providers.
Even at the height of the pandemic, “the strongest predictors of increased odds of intent to stay were colleague and organizational support,” the researchers wrote in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. Results indicated that nurses who reported feeling that support were around twice as likely to plan to stay with their providers.
While the NYU study and the ShiftKey reports were unrelated, both point to mental health concerns as a significant deterrent for workers or potential workers. A full 87% of young people surveyed by ShiftKey noted that mental health and work-life balance would impact their decisions.
