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May 17, 2023

Transforming the Healthcare Workforce Experience

One of the biggest challenges facing the hospital community in South Carolina and across the country is, quite simply, our people. The healthcare workforce has been experiencing alarming rates of stress and burnout, impacting their overall well-being, morale, and job performance. These issues existed well before the pandemic and have only intensified since 2020. What’s worse, the impact of this trend extends beyond the physical and mental health of individual healthcare workers, as burnout, stress, and understaffing can affect the quality of patient care as cost hospitals millions of dollars each year in clinician turnover.

At SCHA, workforce development has long been a top priority for our organization, and we are pleased to announce a new three-year grant from The Duke Endowment to address the systemic, root-cause issues that contribute to healthcare worker burnout and turnover. The grant, awarded to the SCHA Foundation, will fund efforts to identify, test and foster adoption of fundamental workplace culture changes aimed at realigning the value proposition, improving worker well-being and engagement, and strengthening retention. The goal of this grant is to transform the work environment so that all health professionals engage in meaningful work and thrive in their calling.

Through TDE’s generosity, SCHA has a dedicated team with expanded capacity and resources to support our members in this work, including:

  • A Care Team Wellbeing survey to gather population-specific data on workforce wellbeing, pain points, and potential drivers of burnout that will guide priorities and action items for improvement (June 2023).
  • A Learning Collaborative for hospital leaders to share ideas and test innovative solutions (third quarter 2023).
  • A Leadership Development series to equip and empower hospital leaders to support their teams and navigate the challenges of today’s work environment (January 2024).
  • Resources, hospital visits, and organizational coaching to address the unique needs of our members (ongoing).

SC hospitals have proven we are strongest together. Now, in the face of a new challenge, we can be leaders in transforming the healthcare workforce experience.

If you have any questions or would like any additional information about how to get engaged in this critical work, contact Emily O’Sullivan at eosullivan@scha.org@scha.org. For press inquiries, contact Kyle Petersen at kpetersen@scha.org.