The Healthcare Workforce Shortage is Here (And Getting Worse) — How Will You Make the Numbers Add Up?

Healthcare staffing shortages aren’t some distant problem—they’re happening right now, and they’re only getting worse. If you’re leading a healthcare organization, you’re already feeling the pressure. More patients, fewer staff, and an overburdened workforce that’s burning out faster than ever. So, the big question is: How do you make the numbers work?

14% Doesn’t Equal 18%: The Workforce Shortage Is Already Outpacing Demand

Let’s talk numbers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects that by 2036, the U.S. will have only enough physicians to meet 87% of demand. Registered nurses? We’ll have 14% more than today, but demand will grow by 18%, leaving a shortfall. And for licensed practical nurses (LPNs), supply is only projected to cover 88% of demand.

That means more patients needing care, and fewer professionals available to provide it. If we don’t rethink how care is delivered, the strain on clinical teams will become unsustainable.

The Shrinking Chaplain Workforce: A Hidden Gap in Care

When we talk about workforce shortages, chaplains rarely make the list—but they should. There are only about 20,000 professional healthcare chaplains in the U.S., and in half of states, there are fewer than 13 chaplains per 100,000 people. The ratio of chaplains to older adults is projected to shrink by 10% by 2030.

Why does this matter? Because when chaplains aren’t available, someone else is filling the gap.

The Extra Burden on Nurses, Social Workers, and Physicians

When there’s no chaplain available, who steps in? Nurses, social workers, and physicians—who already have too much on their plates. They’re expected to provide emotional and spiritual support on top of their clinical responsibilities, despite not having the same training or dedicated time for it.

Here are just a few of the responsibilities that often fall to clinical staff when chaplains aren’t available:

• Grief Support: Helping families navigate grief and loss
• Goals of Care: Having difficult goals of care and end-of-life conversations
• Emotional Support: Providing emotional support after a devastating diagnosis
• Meaning Making: Addressing existential distress and meaning-making
• Caregiver Support: Comforting overwhelmed caregivers

These are critical needs, but shifting them onto an already stretched workforce only increases burnout and decreases overall quality of care.

Virtual Spiritual Care: A Scalable, Practical Solution

This is where virtual spiritual care comes in. Just like telehealth expanded access to physicians and mental health professionals, virtual spiritual care can do the same for chaplaincy. A secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform, like what we use at SpirituWell , allows chaplains to be available whenever and wherever they’re needed, without adding pressure to clinical teams.

Benefits of virtual chaplaincy:

• Scalability: Fewer chaplains can serve multiple facilities and patients remotely, making spiritual care more widely accessible and affordable.
• Inclusiveness: Virtual spiritual care expands access to professionals who represent diverse cultural, religious, and spiritual backgrounds who are not necessarily available when limited to hiring locally.
• Reduce Burnout: By integrating virtual chaplains, we take emotional and spiritual care off the plates of overburdened nurses and doctors.

Virtual Spiritual Care: Unburdening Overworked Clinical Teams and Better Meeting Patient Needs

If healthcare leaders are serious about addressing burnout and staffing shortages, spiritual care has to be part of the conversation.

What happens when a grieving family has no one to turn to? How does a patient process a life-changing diagnosis without guidance? Who supports the nurses and physicians who witness suffering every day?

Spiritual care isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a necessity. If we want to keep our healthcare system functional, we need to rethink how we provide it—and virtual chaplaincy is a solution we can no longer afford to ignore.

Want to learn more about how SpirituWell can help? Visitwww.spirituwell.health.