G1 The Impact of the Workforce Shortage on Oncology Nurse Navigation
Grace Hensley
Pfizer Oncology Intern 2023
Background: This past summer I interned with Pfizer Oncology on the Customer Marketing & Solutions Team. Over my 10-week internship, I researched the workforce shortage and specifically looked at the effects it left in relation to oncology, nurse navigation, and patient care. I am currently an undergraduate student at Butler University majoring in marketing with a minor in strategic communications.
Objective: To look at how the workforce shortage has impacted oncology care and nurse navigation.
Methods: I began my research by looking at what had previously been published in relation to the workforce shortage and the healthcare industry. Then I focused on the causes and effects of the shortage in relation to cancer care. Based on the research I found, I then conducted interviews with 17+ individuals working for AONN+ (Sharon Gentry and Monica Dean – thank you!), Pfizer, Yale New Haven Health, Nuvance Health, Amplity Health, Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology, and Colorado University Anschutz to hear both direct and indirect problems arising from the shortage.
Results: I discovered the biggest concern for healthcare professionals, as well as those working closely with healthcare professionals, is the fear of compromising patient care. Not only were patients physically experiencing delays in treatments, but I found that this created higher anxiety levels in patients. The staff members that cancer clinics were hiring were not long-term employees, thus creating an inconsistent journey in a cancer patient’s life.
Conclusion: The causes of the workforce shortage—beyond just COVID-19—can be attributed to burnout, early retirement, and new staff not entering the workforce fast enough to keep up with patient demand, career switches, lack of hiring quality workers, and fewer individuals in the same roles (in comparison to pre-COVID). The effects of the shortage include, but are not limited to, increased costs for care, decreased patient support, and increased anxiety levels in patients. Potential solutions to the issues presented by the shortage are understanding and/or developing insights into what is happening in hospitals to share how top accounts are adapting to workforce shortage, providing multidisciplinary team members and key account managers (Pfizer-specific employees) with advice on the best practices in managing around workforce shortage, and offering additional support and training to office staff.
Sources
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National Institutes of Health. Solutions to the oncology workforce shortage. Accessed August 28, 2023. https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215257/
HealthLeaders. Radiation oncology clinics struggling with workforce shortages, survey finds. HealthLeaders. Accessed August 28, 2023. www.healthlead ersmedia.com/clinical-care/radiation-oncology-clinics-struggling-work force-shortages-survey-finds
Finnegan J. Another physician shortage: oncologists. Fierce Healthcare. October 30, 2019. Accessed August 28, 2023. www.fiercehealthcare.com/prac tices/another-physician-shortage-oncologists
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