POSTED INOPINION OPINION: Patient care will suffer if we don’t attract more young people to healthcare fields
Jade Tate
May 7, 2024
To fill big gaps in the workforce, we need new policies to help attract and train new talen
Our country is facing a severe shortage of nurses, with many U.S. hospitals struggling to meet demands for patient care. By next year, we are expected to face a shortage of up to 450,000 nurses. Allied health professionals such as phlebotomists, pharmacy technicians and medical assistants are also in extremely high demand.
Unless new policies are created to help attract and train new talent, we will never have enough healthcare professionals to fill the gaps in the workforce, and patient care will ultimately suffer. I believe it is critical for policymakers to create new pipelines for healthcare jobs — starting in high school.
Many factors contribute to the growing healthcare workforce shortage, from policy and training barriers to high turnover and burnout. One of the most pressing challenges we have today is in building high school students’ awareness of and interest in the healthcare field, specifically in the many available nursing and allied health positions.
