Staffing at Utah hospitals is in a more stable place than a year ago

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Hospital Association says hospitals around the state are in a more stable position staffing wise than they were last year. However, hospitals still aren’t back to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Paul Jackson, a workforce consultant for the Utah Hospital Association, said during the surge of the pandemic, hospitals had to allocate employees and resources to help with COVID-related cases.

“People who needed other procedures were set to the side,” Jackson said. “But now, yes, we still have some COVID patients. But we are able to take care of all the other needs that come into the hospital.”

Jackson said Utah hospitals still have a higher staff turnover than before the pandemic.

“During COVID, turnover in healthcare did increase by about 5 percent,” he said. “Since COVID, it has gone down about 3 percent.” 

And Jackson said Utah is in a better spot than other states.

“We receive phone calls from other states as to how we are able to do what we do,” he said. “We have great relationships with our academic partners.”

He also says Utah is in a better position than other states because hospitals are on top of the seasonal illnesses that effect patients.

Mark Jones contributed to this article.

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