A new survey commissioned by Siemens Healthineers of more than 400 laboratory professionals shows the toll taken on both lab personnel and the patients they serve by prolonged understaffing.
Chronic staffing shortages are especially significant as reliance on laboratory diagnostic testing has grown in the U.S. healthcare system and continues to grow. At the same time, this constraint applies increased pressure on laboratory professionals who process the more than 14 billion tests ordered annually in the U.S. while contending with understaffing.
The results from the poll, administered by The Harris Poll from June 17 to June 28, 2024, show that the adoption of new technologies and the automation of tasks is a significant concern for lab professionals. While more than half (52%) of respondents said they worried that the widespread automation of tasks might threaten their jobs and 27% cite fears of losing their job as a reason to be reluctant to adopt new technologies, 89% agree that their labs need these new technologies to keep up with patient care, and 95% of the respondents believe automation of some routine tasks will help them improve patient care and will be a key solution in addressing some of the major challenges posed by staffing shortages.
According to the results, burnout is another significant concern for lab professionals, who worry about its potential to lead to errors and hinder their ability to maintain a standard for their patients, especially in the face of continued staffing shortages. With vacancy rates in labs estimated to be in the range of 7% to 11% on average, and as high as 25% in some areas, the respondents acknowledged that the chances of making low- or high-risk errors due to burnout has grown.
Again, the respondents suggested that automating repetitive tasks could alleviate much of this concern. If they had fewer repetitive tasks to handle manually, the respondents said that they would reassign that time to training and mentoring employees (46%), performing more troubleshooting and quality control oversight (42%), and managing workflows across departments more efficiently (39%).
