This morning I attended the Regional Partnership Healthcare Solutions Forum, put on by several Triangle based Workforce Development Boards. The topic was the shortage of healthcare workers. It’s clear, not just in NC, but nationally, that there is a growing unmet need for trained healthcare workers in just about every area of healthcare.
To use the Triangle as an example, this area has added 2,000 businesses and 30,000 jobs in healthcare, just since the year 2000. Add the growing population (the Triangle expects to add roughly 275,000 people over the next 5 years), to aging baby boomers, AND aging/retiring healthcare providers, and you’ve got a serious shortage of healthcare workers.
This forum was attended by various executives from healthcare employers, like area hospitals (referred to as Healthcare Worker “Consumers” at the mtg.), producers of healthcare talent, like Technical Community Colleges (referred to as “Producers”), and those in the middle acting as ”Distributors” (that’s Local Eye Site!). We discussed various issues that are realities of this current situation. Here are a few:
1. Shortage of training programs.
2. Communication breakdown between what Healthcare worker “Consumers” need in their employees, and how “Producers” are training them.
3. Aging workforce.
4. Lack of Private Sector involvement.
5. ”Producers” aren’t using today’s technology to reach the potential pool of talent to spread the word about potential career options in healthcare.
6. ”Producers” aren’t using the technology partially at least because of lack of funding.
7. Healthcare can be a difficult job.
8. Competition with other careers.
9. Retention not what it should be.
So, what’s the solution? Everyone should join the Local Eye Site Community, of course! I’m kidding, sort-of, but I was encouraged by Local Eye Site’s role with this issue. Eye Care faces these issues, in fact, even more so than other specialties. Ophthalmology and Optometry will face a disproportionate share of this pressure as the boomers age over the next 10 years. Not every Senior Citizen, thankfully, has to see an Oncologist, but almost all of them need to see an Eye Doctor.
So, join the LES Community as we enhance careers, increase educational opportunities and foster communication in eye care!
