Why Doctors & Nurses Are Quitting

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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers
Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum
Editor: Juan Carlos Zuniga

* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[codycreekmore]

YES. As a lab scientist, the short staffing has KILLED us.

[realmani]

burnout in healthcare isn’t just about exhaustion—it's about the emotional toll of working in a system where priorities seem misaligned. when resources are poured into marketing and big-name sponsorships while frontline workers are stretched thin, it makes you wonder: is the healthcare system truly focsed on patient care, or is it more about profit and image? this disconnect is not just a logistical problem but a moral one. how can we expect to deliver compasionate care when the system itself lacks compassion for those who provide it?

[sweetrocks]

It’s definitely a planning problem. As my co worker lovingly says “this hospital has deep pockets, but really short arms”

[Bongus_Bubogus]

A country’s healthcare being primarily privatized and not treated as a utility is a failure to understand what healthcare is.

Edit: Let’s clarify. It should be treated as a utility AND well ran. Thought that’d be obvious. For example, while there are plenty of gripes for UK management (they seem to only be able to run themselves into the ground) they spend less than half the money per capita compared to the US in healthcare yet have several years of life expectancy over the US (OECD Life Expectancy at Birth 2020, and Health Spending 2020). There are a myriad of other issues causing this, but they are ultimately within the web of healthcare. Crime, economic status, access to and knowledge of healthy diets (that’s a huge fight in the US!), suicide rates, discrimination, safety regulations, whatever else you can think of I consider a factor of a country’s healthcare. Things are complicated, single or smalls amounts of examples don’t justify whether an entire is good or not.

Ultimately, healthcare is an investment in one’s own people at a pure economical stance if not a moral one.

[velkonemriam]

I work at a hospital and it’s rather common to be short staffed 100+ nurses. Utter insanity

[wfroedgern]

Such truth! I worked for a system that laid off over 200+ employees, including many of my friends. Yet, they sponsor every single sports team in town. I no longer work there BTW.

[VPERSHONEN]

As a Emergency RN, it comes down to two things. Horrible Patient - Nurse ratios, and poor pay for the responsibility. Alot of hospitals are scummy and will pay nurses the bare minimum we will allow. (cough cough, HCA)

[stephiek.]

This. Even before Covid, I've thought about this. Hospitals can afford more staff, they just don't want to pay. Quality of care drops and patients are the ones that lose.

[aoifedeborha]

Honestly, I feel like seeing someone in need of help and being unable to support them because healthcare is too expensive is awful, for both the doctors and patients

[southsider]

Corporations will always pay their heads of Board of Directors and CEOs first with profits before anyone else. 🤨
They seem to forget their industry wouldn't exist without doctors and nurses.

[ca]

Administration is big reason why there is short staffing

[cubbi]

Just saw a local hospital just fire the hospital coordinator again, second time this year. So something is going on that they don’t want us to know about

[lavenderoh]

Where i live they would rather pay travel nurses $50-$100/hr than increase what they're offering full time nurses, which is $20-$35/hr. Because of this they're in a constant cycle of being short staffed because nurses quit because they are too underpaid to cover 3+ nurses jobs at once. Keep in mind minimum wage is $13 in my state, so you can make MORE as a retail or fast food manager than as a licensed nurse. If they offered me $35-$50 I would return because it might be worth it. But for now the stress and an extra car payment that is basically my full check when you factor in gas, insurance, wear and tear.. For now I do better working part time for minimum wage and a 50% discount. Pay so much less taxes at this salary my take home is about the same after bills.

[sarahmoellenberg]

Nurse Blake's last comment resonated strongly with me and reminded me of a conversation with someone who left our field completely as he described the work as too emotionally expensive.

[mikeadair]

I have a tough disease to diagnose. Not there yet, but still kickin'. One doctor I met among the dozen said that many senior doctors and nurses retired right after covid. She also said that there were many new doctors and nurses who had just graduated. Maybe there's a glimmer of hope.

[ninakaiser]

The biggest challenge is that it is an industry. Here in Germany many years back (many years) hospitals were state owned. Now all of them are privatized and so the main focus of course is on making money. Not on taking care of the patients in the best way possible (there are very few exceptions). From a nurse in Germany

[Tylervrooman]

They definitely have the money. The greed at the top is the problem.

[danurban]

Short staffing, aging or shortage of equipment & supplies, lack of respect, lack of recognition, lack of compensation...

[davidravenscroft]

It's a profit issue, always... greed pure and simple

[muskanrathore]

The doctors and nurses are way underpaid when we consider the type of work they do and 24, 36 and 48 hour shifts 😮😮, yet a middle class person's whole budget suffers if they have to pay out of pocket for health care. Where is that money going if not to the primary healthcare providers like doctors and nurses??