Latest news with #AspirationsinMedicineandHealthcareInitiatives
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Develop, recruit and retain: Battling a workforce shortage in health care
In a region with a large population of older adults, a national health care workforce shortage continues to challenge local providers working on multiple fronts to fill positions with the invaluable human infrastructure that delivers care at the bedside. And while the workforce problem isn't unique to Northeast Pennsylvania, the strategic solutions it demands are made more imperative here by demographic realities. * Lindsay Choman, a pre-analytical specialist, left, instructs Valley View student Cora Castellani how to insert an IV during 'Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives,' hosted by Geisinger, at Wilkes University on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Valley View student Emineance, left, learns to insert an IV with the help of Kristen Seamans, an operations manager of nursing for Geisinger Northeast during 'Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives,' hosted by Geisinger, at Wilkes University on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Tara, a regional director for respiratory care services for Geisinger, gives a presentation using pig's lungs during 'Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives,' hosted by Geisinger, at Wilkes University on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Employees work on an inpatient unit in the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * An inpatient room in the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Registered nurse Jodi Spotts works in a recently renovated unit that expands inpatient capacity at the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * A hallway on an inpatient unit on the seventh floor at the Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Show Caption 1 of 7 Lindsay Choman, a pre-analytical specialist, left, instructs Valley View student Cora Castellani how to insert an IV during 'Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives,' hosted by Geisinger, at Wilkes University on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Expand A January 2024 report by the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania noted the state was projected to suffer the worst nursing shortage in the nation by 2026 and the third worst shortages of nursing support professionals and mental health providers. That's a particularly ominous prospect in a region where the population of adults ages 65 and older — a population where chronic disease is more prevalent — is 'between 20% and 25% higher than both the rest of Pennsylvania and the nation as a whole,' according to a 2024 community health needs assessment conducted by Geisinger, Allied Services and Evangelical Community Hospital. Older patients requiring more care for any number of reasons are also seeking it at a time when their generational peers employed in the health care sector are reaching retirement age — exiting an industry still recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic hastened the flight of many workers from its ranks. Against that backdrop, health systems, hospitals and similar institutions are often left to compete with each other for the same workers, prompting employers to raise salaries, bolster benefits and offer other incentives to develop, recruit and retain talent. For example, 97% of institutions that responded to surveys informing the Hospital and Healthsystem Association report said they boosted base wages, 89% reported offering some form of professional development or tuition reimbursement and 56% reported offering sign-on, referral or similar bonuses. At Scranton Primary Health Care Center, CEO Joseph Hollander said his organization offers an 'extensive benefits package,' tuition reimbursement and other incentives to remain competitive in an environment where it and other providers often pull from the same pool of talent. 'We are experiencing those same (hiring) pressures,' Hollander said, noting the expansion of Lehigh Valley Health Network into the local market several years ago 'just put that much more pressure on an already stressed situation.' Jersey College Nursing School student Kathleen Pascual holds up a sign showing her nursing position selection during a 'Draft Day 2024' event at Regional Hospital of Scranton on Thursday, July 18, 2024 (FILE PHOTO) Teri Ooms, executive director of The Institute, a regional data analytics and research organization, said the health care industry is poised for growth locally. 'But more important is the maintenance of the health care industry,' Ooms said. 'There are a lot of individuals in health care approaching or at that retirement age, so even without the growth factor the demand for providers is high, and I'm going to use the term providers very loosely. I'm talking doctors, nursing, lab techs, med techs, all of the special imaging technologists and things like that.' 'Every position in health care, regardless of education and skill level, is running at a deficit nationwide, and it's primarily due to the same thing,' she continued. 'The population is getting older, people are retiring, they're leaving the workforce and there's just not enough of the younger population to fill that void.' Figures Ooms provided show health care accounted for 8,698 of 23,501 job postings in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties in the six months of September through February. That's more than 37%. Homegrown talent Amid the shortage, the vast majority of health systems are using academic and educational partnerships to help meet current and future staffing needs — collaborating on programs aimed at preparing the next generation of health care workers for the workforce. Of the institutions that responded to the HAP survey, 99% reported workforce development partnerships with traditional four-year universities and community colleges alike. It's a strategy frequently embraced in Northeast Pennsylvania, a hub for both health care and higher education. January state Department of Labor and Industry profiles for Lackawanna and Luzerne counties show that health care and social assistance remains the largest industry sector in terms of employment in both counties, accounting for 21.3% of employment in Lackawanna and 17.1% in Luzerne, according to profiles for January 2025. It was also Pennsylvania's largest employing sector overall, accounting for 18.6% of employment statewide. A wealth of local nursing education and similar programs preparing prospective graduates to meet that high demand, often in partnership with the region's health systems, hospitals and clinics. Commonwealth Health and the Jersey College School of Nursing, for example, announced in late 2022 an ongoing partnership that saw the organizations open a nursing school at Commonwealth's Moses Taylor Hospital campus in Scranton. It's an effort to build a homegrown nursing workforce, Commonwealth Health Wilkes-Barre General Chris Howe said, noting seven of the inaugural class's 11 graduates have joined Commonwealth Health hospitals. The system also collaborates with local universities and colleges, including the University of Scranton, Marywood University, Lackawanna College, Luzerne County Community College and Wilkes University 'to help train nurses who are equipped to provide compassionate, high-quality care for patients,' Howe said. 'Developing the next generation of healthcare providers is essential for addressing the growing demand for medical care,' he said. 'Strong academic collaborations help create a steady pipeline of skilled nurses and healthcare professionals. Our hospitals and medical staff are also training resident physicians through our graduate medical education program with The Wright Center and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Clinical Educational Consortium. These programs provide valuable hands-on experience to future doctors under the mentorship of experienced physicians.' Those efforts continue at a time when Commonwealth's Regional Hospital of Scranton and its Moses Taylor campus face an uncertain future following the late 2024 collapse of a sale that would have seen both facilities and Wilkes-Barre General acquired by the nonprofit WoodBridge Healthcare. WoodBridge announced plans to purchase the hospitals from subsidiaries of Community Health Systems Inc., Commonwealth's Tennessee-based parent company, but the sale many saw as a lifeline for the financially-challenged facilities ultimately fell apart for lack of financing. Efforts by lawmakers and other stakeholders to find another potential buyer remain ongoing. Career pipelines In addition to workforce-development partnerships with more traditional institutions of higher learning, health care entitles are also increasingly working to reach even younger students, introducing middle and high schoolers to careers in the industry while driving an interest in health sciences. Geisinger, for example, runs cooperative programs where high school seniors actually go to work alongside preceptors at Geisinger facilities during their school day. Those programs in the areas of nursing, pharmacy, laboratory medicine and other disciplines introduce hundreds of students each semester to those fields and allow them to earn money while informing future career decisions, Geisinger Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive Janet Tomcavage said. It complements several other workforce-focused efforts, including entry-level career initiatives that allow high school graduates to start in internal training programs. One such program provides on-the-job training for medical assistants working to become certified medical assistants, with Geisinger paying for the certification and providing other institutional support. 'They actually get paid to work and learn through our certification program, and we've hired almost 200 CMAs over the last two years as a result of that program,' Tomcavage said. 'It's been just a phenomenal joint effort with our clinics and our ambulatory education team.' Geisinger is now creating that same type of program for patient care technicians, techs who work alongside nurses, she said. It and similar initiatives are mutually beneficial as Geisinger looks to develop a pipeline of workers and those entry-level employees look to begin climbing their career ladders. 'We feel like we are giving back to our own employees while we do that, and then they tend to be loyal and support the organization,' Tomcavage said. 'And they're from our communities, so they live (here), they grow up in the communities and they're taking care of their community — and it really is a win/win for all of us.' Geisinger also offers a number of scholarship opportunities for prospective nurses and other employees looking to return to school and advance their careers. A program offered through Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, the Abigail Geisinger Scholars Program, offers tuition-free education to students in exchange for a commitment to return to Northeast Pennsylvania after their residencies to work as Geisinger physicians. 'I think that health care has to invest in the pipeline so that we always have a flow of the next set of workers,' Tomcavage said, speaking to workforce needs more broadly. 'And for us in rural Pennsylvania it's doubly critical, because the workforce leaves. … And so I think our organizations, we're going to have to work harder to kind of make sure that the pipeline is well-oiled if you will, so that we can keep our hospitals open (and) our health care local.' Retention Beyond workforce development and recruitment efforts, John Wiercinski, a University of Scranton professor of health administration and retired hospital administrator, said another critical aspect of meeting workforce needs is retaining the staff that organizations already have. Hospital administrators often spend a considerable amount of time and money on recruitment and relatively little on retention, he said, speaking in general terms. He also contends an organization's ability to retain staff is often tied to its 'corporate culture,' and that administrators and executives should recognize that the prospective employees of today are increasingly looking for work/life balance 'That means that your entire corporate culture has to be welcoming and satisfactory to the people that we recruit, because the next time somebody offers a shiny bauble or a sign-on bonus they're going to leave your organization to chase after that,' he said. 'We want to cultivate a … family, collegial attitude and feeling of belonging (so) that people say: 'you know what? I'm really comfortable here.'' Fair and competitive compensation are important in that respect, but so is recognition, appreciation and institutional support, Wiercinski said. Building on that point, Mary Jane DiMattio, a professor and chairwoman of the University of Scranton's nursing department, said the corporate model governing health care organizations often isn't conducive with the worldview that motivates many nurses and other caregivers to pursue those professions in the first place. 'The corporate model is in place which values efficiency, throughput, all of those things, and it doesn't align well with the values that are instilled really in any caregiving group,' DiMattio said. 'Nurses come into nursing because they want to be up-close-and-personal with people and they want to form relationships, and particularly that's true of hospital nurses who work at the bedside.' Referencing a recent research study where she spoke with a group of nurses who choose to stay at the bedside, DiMattio said one of her biggest takeaways was that relationships were most important to them. 'You can't form good relationships and do the kinds of things you want to do to give care when your time is limited and there isn't enough equipment and there aren't enough other people,' she said, describing a 'vicious cycle' where nurses disillusioned or dissatisfied by the realities of corporate health care sometimes leave. 'So this just breeds a lot of dissatisfaction, a lot of what we call moral distress, and that leads to burnout and that leads to attrition.' Striving to avoid those unwanted outcomes is critical in a region where an aging population of patients with diverse medical needs consumes a lot of health care. 'There is definitely going to be a continued growing need, especially for nurses, to provide care for these high-acuity people who have multiple chronic conditions,' Wiercinski said. 'It's very important for us to identify those needs, and all the more reason that the health care organizations in this area have to focus on retention.'
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
High school students attend Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives program
Mar. 6—When you think about careers in health care, you might name doctors and nurses, lab workers and respiratory therapists — but don't forget security officers and a dog like Jäger. Accompanied by his handler, Karri Dodson, the German shorthaired pointer showed off his skills Wednesday during an Aspirations in Medicine and Healthcare Initiatives (AiM HI) program, which was sponsored by Geisinger, held in Wilkes University's Stark Learning Center, and attended by about 90 high school students. Jäger and Dodson momentarily stepped out of a classroom, giving Dodson's colleague, Darrin Bidwell enough time to hide a small amount of a substance that can be used in explosives. When the dog returned, Dodson told him to sweep the room, and he immediately began sniffing the whiteboards, the door handles, the areas between the rows of chairs ... until he zeroed in on the hidden item, which Bidwell had attached to a wall. "Good boy, good boy, good boy," Dodson praised the dog, bringing out a toy that Jäger recognizes as a signal that he doesn't have to work at the moment. Now it's OK to play and socialize. That meant the high school students had a chance to pet him and toss the toy for him to fetch. Students who took part in the AiM Hi program hailed from Dallas, North Pocono, Greater Nanticoke, Holy Cross, MMI Prep, Susquehanna CTC, Abington Heights, Wyoming Valley West, Wilkes-Barre Area and Riverside school districts. They broke into groups Wednesday morning and visited various classrooms to interact with Geisinger staffers who represented laboratory sciences, nursing, security services, respiratory therapy and health care administration. "This really helps them make educated decisions," Joseph DeGrazia, a counselor who accompanied students from Holy Cross High School in Dunmore, said after watching students examine pig lungs in the classroom devoted to respiratory therapy. In that room, students also intubated a mannequin and tried on a therapeutic vest that helps patients with cystic fibrosis breathe better. "It felt like being wrapped up in a pillow," MMI student Cedrah Abdulrahman said after wearing the vest for a minute or two. While some students said they are unsure about future career plans, some have definite ideas. Simon Matore from Holy Cross High School, for example, knows he's interested in immunology. Olivia Galella from Susquehanna County CTC has set her sights on becoming a cardiac stenographer. And Laci Ayotte, also from Susquehanna County CTC, said "I want to go into labor and delivery." She's been leaning toward becoming a nurse/midwife ever since, at age 9, she welcomed a new baby sister. "I love seeing families so happy," she said.
