Workforce

Health system partnerships with educational institutions have helped ease the burdens of workforce shortages and allowed students to gain hands-on experience and class credit. 

The healthcare workforce is varied and multi-faceted, with professionals holding various roles, specialties and responsibilities. As a result, this diversity offers a range of challenges and discussions on how to address them.

An $800,000 grant will provide students at Columbia-based University of Missouri with paid nursing assistant experience at MU Health Care.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently approved an additional $130 million investment in two programs designed to reduce nursing shortages.

The U.S. housing crisis can lead to difficulties in retaining and recruiting healthcare professionals. UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colo., is addressing the issue with investment in long-term employee housing.

A Minnesota Hospital Association report found that since the pandemic, nurse vacancies have fallen but physician vacancies have risen.

By 2033, employment growth in mental health professions is expected to triple that of average job growth in the U.S., according to a CNN analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Lisa Scardina, who led clinicians and physicians at Providence for years, recently told Medpage Today that enhancing human connection is one of the best methods to combat burnout in healthcare. 

Nursing assistants face the greatest projected deficit over any other analyzed healthcare occupation, with a projected shortage of more than 73,000 assistants nationwide by 2028. 

Employment grew in most healthcare subsectors in August, with overall sector growth below the average monthly gain over the previous 12 months.