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COVID–19 and the Health Care Workforce
On this page:
Telemedicine use
Future plans and reasons for leaving
Looking forward
About the data
COVID–19 challenged us all, including Minnesota's health care providers who served on the front lines caring for all Minnesotans.
Learning more about the pandemic's impact on Minnesota’s health care providers was the purpose of the 2021 COVID survey. From February 2, 2021 to June 17, 2021, health care providers were asked for their feedback on how they were impacted by COVID–19. Providers representing the fields of medicine, nursing, respiratory therapy, and mental health responded to questions on their use of telemedicine, future plans, reasons for leaving, and changes in care delivery. Summaries of their responses can be found in the following dashboards.
Telemedicine use
COVID–19 made it difficult for clinicians to offer in-person health care services, forcing providers to treat and interact with their patients and clients in new ways. When asked about using other forms of communication to deliver care, many providers acknowledged using phone, email and/or a telemedicine platform to provide care.
Mental health providers were much more likely to have said they used all three forms of communication to deliver care to their patients or clients during the pandemic (33 percent), unlike most other providers (53 percent) who said they did not use any alternative forms of communication to deliver care.
During the last week, did you provide any care using phone OR email/text OR a dedicated telemedicine platform?
Source: Minnesota Health Workforce Spring COVID Survey, February 2021 – June 2021.
Future plans and reasons for leaving
There were many stressors associated with providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing many to reconsider their careers in health care. The full impact of the pandemic on Minnesota's health care providers continues to be monitored and analyzed. However, comparing recent data collected in 2021 to similar data collected in 2019 shows a rising share of all providers planning to leave their careers in the next five years.
Future plans
About how many more years do you plan to work in your profession?
Responses from 2019 compared to 2021
Source: Minnesota Health Workforce Spring COVID Survey, February 2021 – June 2021.
Reasons for leaving
Especially noteworthy are the reasons why some providers planned to leave the profession in the next five years. A comparison of 2021 and 2019 data confirms a growing loss of providers who have decided to leave due to burnout or dissatisfaction. Respiratory therapists were four times more likely to say they were leaving due to burnout or dissatisfaction in 2021 compared to 2019. The same can be said for others including physician assistants and registered nurses who were three times as likely, and mental health providers and practical nurses who were twice as likely to leave their careers in the next five years due burnout or dissatisfaction.
[Among those who said they plan leaving the profession in five years or less] What is the main reason you plan to leave the profession within the next five years?
Source: Minnesota Health Workforce Spring COVID Survey, February 2021 – June 2021.
Looking forward
Knowledge and skills
The COVID–19 pandemic caused many providers to learn and employ new skills to meet the changing health needs of patients and clients. Over a quarter of all providers (29 percent) felt the pandemic permanently changed their knowledge, skills, and abilities to be effective in their work. Mental health providers were the largest share of providers confirming the pandemic had permanently changed the way they practiced.
Do you think the pandemic has permanently changed the knowledge, skills, or abilities you need to be effective in your work?
Source: Minnesota Health Workforce Spring COVID Survey, February 2021 – June 2021.
Workplace training
Many health care providers (37 percent) also felt the pandemic changed the way their workplaces trained residents, students and new graduates. Overall, 37 percent of providers said the pandemic had changed the way they provided training to students followed by 27 percent of providers who said the pandemic changed the content of their training. Interestingly, when comparing provider groups on how their workplace changed the training of students, physician assistants responded differently from all other providers with a majority (28 percent) saying their workplace had reduced or stopped training altogether.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way your workplace trains students or new graduates (including interns, residents, or others who are preparing to enter the field)?
Source: Minnesota Health Workforce Spring COVID Survey, February 2021 – June 2021.
About the data
- Data for the Health Care Workforce COVID–19 Dashboards can be downloaded as a csv file.
- Mental Health providers include Alcohol & Drug Counselors, Licensed Professional and Clinical Counselors, Psychologists and Social Workers.
- A total of 34,356 responses to the survey were received from February 2, 2021 to June 21, 2021.
- Psychiatrists are licensed as physicians and not included in the mental health provider group.