It’s relatively easy to understand how a shortage of doctors can negatively impact patient care. Having enough allied healthcare workers is also essential in maintaining a high level of patient care.
According to a Covista survey, 73% of healthcare executives and 76% of clinicians feel staffing shortages compromise the quality of care they can provide. Additionally, research from the McKinsey Health Institute found that eliminating the healthcare worker shortage by 2030 would reduce disease burden by 7%.
Allied healthcare professionals comprise as much as 60% of the healthcare workforce in the United States, making it impossible to improve patient care without addressing the allied healthcare staffing shortage.
Here are some of the specific ways patients are negatively affected by not having enough allied healthcare workers.
Diagnoses are Delayed
Many diagnoses are made through blood work, and a shortage of phlebotomy technicians means delays in patients finding out the cause of their illness and delays in treatment. For example, a 2018 survey by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) identified average vacancy rates of 7 – 11% in clinical laboratories, and as high as 25% in some areas.
Additionally, a Siemens Healthineers survey found 39% of clinical laboratory professionals say they have a limited support staff to support laboratory operations, while 5% reported their facility closing for a shift due to understaffing. Patients go untreated longer when testing is delayed.
Surgeries are Either Delayed or Canceled
A shortage of surgical technicians means surgeries take longer and patients are under anesthesia longer. Explains Blake Miller, an orthopedic trauma surgeon in Michigan: “We went from six or seven orthopedic-specific scrub techs to three. The longer a surgeon works, the more their quality is going to be sacrificed.”
In other instances, patient care suffers because surgeries are prevented from happening entirely. Certified Surgical Technologist Ashley Sumner, who works in Savannah, Georgia, explains it’s not uncommon for a patient’s surgery to get cancelled and delayed a day or more, especially towards the end of the year, because there just aren’t enough surgical technologists available.
In the most extreme instances, this type of shortage can temporarily shut down a hospital’s ability to perform any surgeries. After a health inspector found hundreds of trays of uncleaned surgical instruments at Colorado’s largest hospital because of a sterile processing department staffing shortage, patient surgeries were paused for an entire week at the facility in July 2025.
Recovery Periods are Prolonged
A 2024 study of Australian hospitals found that frail patients who had allied health involvement within 48 hours of admission reduced the length of their stay by 7 days compared to those who didn’t receive that assistance. The early intervention of allied health professionals has a positive impact on frail patients and also reduces the amount of pressure injury-related incidents.
Patients are More At Risk for Injury and Illness
A 2019 Columbia University School of Nursing study found that shifts understaffed with RNs were 15% more likely to result in patients getting Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). While the study was primarily focused on nurses, it found that understaffed shifts with nursing support staff, including nurses’ assistants, also contributed to patients getting more HAIs.
Additionally, nursing homes that already have adequate certified nursing assistant (CNA) coverage and that increase their CNA and registered nurse coverage beyond Medicare & Medicaid Service Minimum Staffing Standards result in a decrease in injurious patient falls. Patients are significantly safer when they have an adequate number of allied healthcare professionals assisting in their care.
How MedCerts Partner Solutions Helps
The good news is that the problems created for patients by the shortage of allied healthcare workers are preventable by finding a more long-term pipeline for filling allied healthcare vacancies. Through online certification training, MedCerts Partner Solutions provides a sustainable solution.
Facilities can project what allied healthcare roles will be needed in the future, and team up with MedCerts Partner Solutions to offer allied health training programs that create the next generation of allied healthcare workers. Through Incumbent Worker Upskilling, Train-and-Hire Programs, and Earn-and-Learn Apprenticeship Models, MedCerts Partner Solutions offers healthcare employers a few different options.
Additionally, a 2025 MedCerts survey found 93.58% of employers who partnered with MedCerts on an upskilling or healthcare training program said it increased employee retention. Creating career mobility and improving retention leads to less turnover from burnout and poaching, and that continuity in care also benefits patients.
Conclusion
In healthcare, nothing is more important than patient care. Through online certification training and working with MedCerts Partner Solutions, healthcare employers can create a more sustainable pipeline for allied healthcare employees, providing patients with a more consistently high level of allied healthcare support.
Want more information about how MedCerts Partner Solutions can help with your facility’s allied healthcare workforce needs? Contact us at [email protected].
