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DiversityNursing Blog

Hospitals Introducing Teens To Healthcare Career Opportunities

Posted by Erica Bettencourt

Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 02:11 PM

GettyImages-483482847Hospitals are hiring or accepting volunteer teens and young adults as a long-term strategy to help combat shortages in the healthcare industry. 

Research shows, exposure to various healthcare fields is crucial to the development of career interests for adolescents and young adults. 

Earn while you learn programs give high school students the opportunity to gain knowledge in the field and make a better wage than the average part time jobs students often take.

These programs offer roles such as:

  • Food Services
  • Transportation
  • Manage Gift Shop
  • Medical Library
  • Patient Support
  • Environmental Services
  • Administrative Support
  • Translator

According to Becker's Hospital Review, Mount Carmel launched its inaugural patient-facing role for those 16 and older: a student support associate position.

Student support associates work as part of the care team, with a multi-skilled technician. The younger workers can help with tasks such as bathing patients, taking patients' vital signs and restocking equipment. 

"We did elect to have specific criteria that students coming to us are actively enrolled in a Nursing program or a pre-Nursing program throughout their high school [career], so that we are really looking to support and foster their interest in long-term career growth and positioning them well to continue to work for us after they graduate from high school and ultimately matriculate into a Nursing program or another allied health program," Mount Carmel Regional Director of Talent Acquisition Rachel Barb told Becker's.

Volunteer programs help plant the seed and further educational opportunities for young adults.

Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia offers a volunteer Summer program where teens get to learn about different positions in the hospital and get hands-on experience at the hospital’s simulation lab.

Dr. Steve Narang, President of Inova Fairfax Medical Campus says to volunteers, "We are taking care of human beings, and this is just a gateway whether you want to be an accountant, whether you want to be in security, whether you want to be in IT or whether you want to be at the bedside. There’s a job for you in healthcare.”

Abrazo West Campus Hospital in Arizona hosts a volunteer program with interactive workshops.

“In those workshops, they have someone’s undivided attention, so they have a surgeon, a specialist, a radiologist that’s up there, and they tell them everything from A to Z, salary, challenges, rewards, education, the best career paths to take,” said Barry Worman, Director of Volunteer Services.

The Healthcare industry will continue to face workforce shortages in the near future so it’s crucial health systems offer opportunities like this to fill the gaps. 

Topics: nursing shortage, healthcare, healthcare industry, healthcare careers, healthcare organizations, healthcare hiring, healthcare workforce, healthcare staffing, teen volunteer programs, hospital volunteer, hospital volunteer program, hospitals hiring

Nursing Organizations Collaborate On A Staffing Think Tank

Posted by Erica Bettencourt

Tue, May 10, 2022 @ 10:12 AM

GettyImages-1310894409

For many years, the healthcare field has struggled with staffing issues, including the Nursing shortage. The COVID-19 pandemic brought these issues front and center. Everyone including Patients, Nurses, and Health Systems benefit from higher staffing rates.

Improved staffing levels reduce:

  • Mortality rates
  • Length of stay
  • Readmission rates
  • Preventable health care associated injuries and illnesses such as falls, infections, and pressure injuries

According to research:

  • Higher numbers of patients per Nurse was strongly associated with the administration of the wrong medication or dose, pressure ulcers, and patient falls with injury.
  • Short-staffing increases patients’ risk of death by between 4% and 6%. This risk is higher within the first five days of admission.

Five organizations came together in 2018 to form the Partners for Nurse Staffing in a collaborative effort to explore new solutions for Nurse staffing issues. In early 2022, they launched the National Nurse Staffing Think Tank. 

The Partners for Nurse Staffing includes:

  • American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
  • American Nurses Association (ANA)
  • American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL)
  • Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
  • Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

The think tank made recommendations to address the Nurse staffing crisis within a 12-18 month implementation timeframe.

The recommendations include: 

Healthy Work Environment

  • Elevate clinician psychological and physical safety to equal importance with patient safety through federal regulation.
  • Specialty Nursing organizations should investigate evidence related to scope of practice and minimum safe staffing levels for patients in their specialty.

 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

  • Implement Inclusive Excellence, a change-focused iterative planning process whereby there is deliberate integration of DEI ideals into leadership practices, daily operations, strategic planning, decision-making, resource allocation and priorities.

 

Work Schedule Flexibility

  • Build a flexible workforce with flexible scheduling, flexible shifts and flexible roles.

 

Stress Injury Continuum

  • Address burnout, moral distress, and compassion fatigue as barriers to Nurse retention.
  • Incorporate well-being of Nurses as an organizational value.

 

Innovative Care Delivery Models

  • Implement tribrid care delivery models that offer a holistic approach with three components, including onsite care delivery, IT integration of patient monitoring equipment, and ambulatory access and virtual/remote care delivery. This approach will improve access, patient and staff experience, and resource management, with continuous measurement for improvement and adjustment for sustainability and support.

 

Total Compensation

  • Develop an organization-wide formalized and customizable total compensation program for nurses that is stratified based on market intelligence, generational needs and an innovative and transparent pay philosophy that is inclusive of benefits such as paid time off for self-care and wellness and wealth planning for all generations.

The time for action is Now. Nurses, and their patients, must have proper staffing levels in order to provide the best care possible! 




Topics: nurse staffing, staffing levels, nurse shortage, healthcare staffing, think tank, staffing crisis

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