Staff shortages force healthcare workers to choose between patients: report

Healthcare professionals are sometimes compelled to decide which patients can be treated and which cannot. The Center for Ethics and Health (CEG) notes that staff shortages force employees to “make impossible decisions under extreme pressure,” burdening them with “serious moral dilemmas that intensify the strain of their work.”

The center points out that care staff are often required to make choices that should not be their responsibility. Researchers emphasize the need for a clear plan when capacity is low, while also noting that healthcare workers feel there is “a disconnect” with management and that their efforts are insufficiently acknowledged.

The high workload compounds the strain on healthcare staff. “Care professionals feel they are letting down patients and colleagues and exceeding their own limits. They work longer and harder, compromising their health and personal lives, which in turn causes further staff shortages,” the CEG states.

A healthcare worker interviewed for the study recounted being solely responsible for three departments. While distributing medication on one side of the building, a patient died alone on the other. Poor communication signals prevented her from calling for help. She said she felt “just terrible” and sad, and noted that “the supervisor never came by to ask how it went.”

The CEG urges political leaders to take action: “If we keep insisting on the ideal of complete and equal access to healthcare without clearly defining priorities, allocating care, and distinguishing acceptable from optimal quality, the moral burden created by staff shortages will continue to fall on individual healthcare professionals.”

The Center for Ethics and Health is a joint initiative of the Health Council and the Council for Public Health and Society. It carries out research into ethical questions in the healthcare sector.

The significant shortage of nurses in healthcare also poses “a recipe for mistakes,” according to the professional association Nurses and Caregivers Netherlands (V&VN). “Teams are understaffed, and more work is being performed by caregivers without full qualifications, even as the team must provide quality care,” the organization warns.

Healthcare workers who make mistakes may face disciplinary action, ranging from a warning to suspension or even a ban from practice in severe cases. V&VN chair Bianca Buurman calls for changes to the disciplinary rules, citing staff shortages.

She argues that some complaints relate to institutional issues rather than individual employees. “A fairer system is needed where workers are not just held responsible, but also protected and supported,” Buurman says.

The V&VN is calling for increased government investment in healthcare to draw more people into the profession and keep them there. “Make healthcare training more affordable and attractive. Close the wage gap with other sectors and pay fair internship stipends,” Buurman says.

She also stresses that policymakers must be honest about the fact that staffing shortages will persist, requiring difficult decisions to be made.