Healthcare Workforce Summit

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS (CONT}:

>> As a way of supporting new educators, offer a faculty training session once a year and pitch it as ‘…the science and art of teaching’. It’s a way to bring faculty together to discuss strategies of teaching a new workforce/generation and how some of the old techniques might not be reaching a new generation of learners. Bring in social scientists to talk about a new way of reaching and understanding new students and workers. Ultimately, it is a great way for new educators who excel clinically – to learn new strategies and become great educators too. >> Traditional and nontraditional pathways should be included in the conversation. We need to help students navigate the education system. ◆ Always need to illuminate career paths while trying to identify potential instructors. ◆ Always discuss that nursing can lead you in multiple directions (the possibilities) and not just the traditional nurse role. ◆ Nurse managers should be highlighting what might be next for people that account for the types of skills they have. ◆ Career vs Job: Conversations with nursing students should be about the type of career they want for the next 20-30 years, not what job they want to do. >> Policy matters as it impacts everything, even down to workplace culture. We know that if a worker starts at a place that doesn’t fit their value system and the training they received, they will have a short tenure and move on to a place that does. >> Monroe County seems to have good relationships with community partners, with buy-in across the board. Get to know local workforce boards and the individuals who can help put together a solution. ◆ Employers are more a part of the solution than they have been in the past. ◆ On-the-job training grants can be used to account for lost productivity, so you don’t necessarily have to add additional resources. >> Other states have created legislation that works. We should be looking to copy what is working for others rather than creating it from scratch. ◆ Tax incentives that favor those who teach can be beneficial. ◆ Lobby to always be included in the governor’s budget so that there is always a sum of money to keep that pipeline full. ◆ Work with state officials to help them see their part from a policy perspective. Most know there is a nursing shortage but have no idea that infrastructure is one of the reasons. >> The wage disparity should be attacked frommultiple angles: ◆ Consider a co-teaching model – this has worked well in other regions. ◆ Share resources – share instructors and share programs. ◆ Brainstorm ways to let educators know they are valued. They’re fully aware how much money travel nurses are making compared to them. Incentivize them. Must be creative to stay within legal boundaries.

12

Monroe Community College State University of New York