Every week, victims of sexual assault are turned away from U.S. emergency departments because those hospitals lack the resources to perform a forensic examination. Specially-trained nurses are best-suited to perform the exams, which average three to four hours, but many EDs lack such expertise — and can’t even spare a nurse for that much time.
“There’s significantly more to a sexual assault exam than most people realize,” said Jennifer Pierce-Weeks, CEO of the International Association of Forensic Nurses. “You really need to have someone engaged with that patient who just went through a traumatic experience. That’s a lot for a typical ER nurse.”
Sexual assault nurse examiner, or SANE, is one of the top skills facing a talent deficit in the nursing profession, not just in the United States, but around the globe. The specialty appeared among the top 10 most needed nursing skills in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, according to a LinkedIn analysis of data from those countries.
And it’s not the only specialty area where health care providers are struggling to fill roles. Other global trends include a talent war for nurses who have expertise performing cosmetic procedures. The analysis also found a universal need for nurses skilled in progressive care, or the step-down unit between intensive care and a standard medical-surgical floor, as well as perioperative nurses, who care for patients undergoing surgery.
To quantify the size of the talent deficit, LinkedIn looked at the top 100 most requested skills on job ads for nurses in a given country. Then we mapped those skills against the total number of nurses in that country who listed that expertise on their profiles, allowing us to identify the 10 skills that are most coveted but least represented in the potential employee pool.
We’ll call that the talent deficit.
The need for sexual assault nurse examiners comes amid a growing consciousness around women’s health, which also appeared in the data.
Australia, for instance, saw a talent deficit for nurses skilled in fetal monitoring, labor and delivery, and pediatrics. Australia began licensing direct-entry midwives (or midwives without a nursing degree) about two decades ago, but some hospitals, particularly in rural areas, still prefer nurses who have broader education than direct-entry midwives.
Talent deficits are especially prevalent “where we’re segmenting what a midwife does and what a nurse does,” said Kylie Ward, CEO of the Australian College of Nursing.
In North America, the first SANE programs launched during the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Similarly, today’s public consciousness around sexual assault comes against the backdrop of the #metoo movement, which has been a global phenomenon, and a number of high profile trials, like that of USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.
But unlike the 1970s, more victims are willing to come forward and speak publicly about their experiences. “And the research is catching up that there are so many health consequences,” Pierce-Weeks said, citing alcoholism, depression and suicidality.
Getting to optimal skill mix
The World Health Organization is forecasting a global shortage of 9 million nurses by 2030. The impact could be even greater if countries don’t have the necessary skills for the population they serve.
Some of the macro-trends impacting those needs, particularly in developed countries, include an aging population; more people with chronic conditions, including cancer; a growing incidence of obesity, which raises health risks; and a need for clinicians who can navigate a digital health care landscape.
Moreover, every country in LinkedIn’s analysis is thinking about how to manage soaring health care costs by investing in preventative care and keeping people with minor conditions out of the expensive emergency department — what’s often referred to “value-based care.”
“Value-based care is mentioned in every single region,” said Robert Nieves, vice president of health informatics at health care analytics firm Elsevier, who works with a global client base. “Are people getting the right care in the right setting?”
Yet the focus on cost has created other problems, like patients who don’t agree with decisions about whether a particular treatment should be covered under a public or private health plan.
Utilization review — in which nurses determine whether patients are receiving the appropriate level of treatment — was one of the top 15 skills facing a talent deficit in the U.K., Australia and Canada. In the U.K. in particular, it came in second, after legal nursing consulting. Medical case management also rounded out the U.K.’s top 10…..(Readmore)