KUALA LUMPUR: IHH Healthcare Bhd, one of the world's largest healthcare groups, is looking at salary adjustments and reducing workload as the world grapples with a shortage of nurses.
According to the International Council of Nurses, the world is facing a severe shortage of nurses – around 13 million by 2030, to be exact. The Southeast Asia region alone is facing a shortfall of 1.9 million nurses.
Early this month, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said Malaysia itself is projected to see a 60 per cent shortage of nurses by 2030.
In 2022, IHH established a global goal to increase its global nursing talent pool by 10 per cent by 2025 to manage its talent amid a global shortage of nurses.
IHH Healthcare has made some headway towards its goal, managing to grow its talent by 5.6 per cent by end of 2023.
Its rapid progress is due to structured initiatives at the group, country and operating unit level that cover the three areas of boosting recruitment, strengthening its internal talent pipeline and enhancing employee experience.
These initiatives are further bolstered by data and analytics, which seek to identify and address gaps in the system.
For example, through a pilot exit survey for nurses initiative that was launched in several of its markets, it was able to gain valuable insights on nurse attrition.
This subsequently led it to design a programme to provide specialised mentoring support for new nurse joiners.
"Our "Project Nightingale" is a comprehensive multipronged approach centred on the nurse employee experience. Actions and initiatives have been developed for every part of the nursing lifecycle to attract, hire, engage, retain, develop and promote our internal talent," IHH Healthcare said in response to Business Times.
IHH, which is present in 10 markets, has intensified its recruitment initiatives by sourcing talent globally and introducing employee referral schemes to enhance staffing capabilities.
"Our goal is to restore staffing levels to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, we have implemented strategies to attract and retain nurses and other healthcare professionals within our workforce," it said in responses to Business Times.
IHH Healthcare which owns 17 hospitals in Malaysia said IHH Malaysia conducted a country-wide salary adjustment for nurses last year, in a bid to demonstrate to existing nurses – as well as nurses-to-be – that nursing is a rewarding career; not just in terms of meaning and purpose, but also salaries that commensurate with the hard work they've put in.
For IHH Singapore, it piloted the Johor Bahru-Singapore shuttle bus service to ferry staff between Johor Bahru and IHH Singapore hospitals in 2023. "With travel time to work significantly reduced, our nurses and staff can spend more quality time with their family and have the much-needed rest during the bus journey," IHH Healthcare said.
While nursing shortage concerns appear to have subsided for its Singapore operations, IHH Healthcare intends to review its remuneration package for its nursing staff following the recent public nurses retention scheme announced by the Singapore government.
On Feb 21 of this year, Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) initiated a long-term incentive scheme aimed at retaining local and foreign nurses, known as the Award For Nurses' Grace, Excellence, and Loyalty (ANGEL).
According to Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, under the ANGEL scheme, each nursing officer has the potential to receive up to S$100,000 over a 20-year period, or until reaching the prevailing retirement age, whichever comes first.
IHH Healthcare has also deployed patient care associates (PCA) to reduce the workload of nurses to assist with easing nursing shortage concerns in Malaysia and Singapore.
The PCAs take on non-clinical tasks, such as collecting meal orders or feeding, to lessen nurses' workloads.
Besides this, hospitals have also turned to technology to boost work efficiency. At IHH Malaysia, it estimates that nurses used to spend at least a third of their time on administrative, non-clinical work, such as filling up reports or coordinating between patients and different hospital units.
Digital tools or applications has helped take on some of these tasks, and free up nurses' time for actual patient care and interaction.
For example, in the past, nurses had to call each patient to ask about the progress of their wound, how they are applying their dressings, and coordinate their follow-up care.
With the use of a wound care application, nurses can now easily keep track of the progress and make the necessary follow-up arrangements.
Some hospitals have adopted monitoring systems that alert nurses when a patient gets off the bed. This removes the need for nurses to constantly check in on patients, especially those with higher fall risk.
IHH Malaysia and IHH Singapore also stepped up its nursing sponsorship programmes, by sponsoring students for both diploma and degree programmes, to build a healthy nursing talent pipeline.
These include Pantai Hospital Penang's collaboration with I-Systems College Kuching, IHH Healthcare Singapore's collaboration with University of Cyberjaya forges Partnership with and Gleneagles Hospital Johor's (GHJ) sponsorship of students pursuing a Diploma in Nursing at the Institute of Science and Technology Darul Takzim (INSTEDT.
Meanwhile, IHH's Prince Court Medical Centre reaffirmed its position as a leader in orthopaedic care with the launch of a brand-new Orthopaedic Clinic of Excellence today.
The centre was inaugurated by IHH Healthcare Malaysia chief executive officer Jean-François Naa, Prince Court Medical Centre CEO Dr Shuba Srinivasan, and Malaysia's rising squash star Sivasangari Subramaniam.
The event also involved a live stream of the exciting "Prince Court Play-offs," featuring National No-1 and World No-10 Sivasangari in paddle ball matches against Jean-François Naa, orthopaedic doctors, esteemed guests and Prince Court partners.
IHH said the new facility is poised to revolutionise orthopaedic care, offering comprehensive, patient-centered services through the latest advancements in medical technology and evidence-based practices.