On Oct. 9, HASC convened 40-plus stakeholders from hospitals, academic institutions, workforce boards and state partners at Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara. The attendees gathered to discuss the workforce supply and demand gap for nursing and allied health professionals across the Central Coast region.
Now in its third year, this summit continued the regional dialog on current and future health care workforce needs. The convening aimed to strengthen relationships among hospitals and postsecondary academic institutions, expand partnerships to include publicly funded workforce development boards, and cultivate conversations on finding solutions.
Ron Werft, president and chief executive officer of Cottage Hospital and the event chair, opened the event. The audience then learned about the Southern Central Coast K-16 Collaborative, reviewed hospital and academic survey data, received a legislative update from the California Hospital Association, and learned about health care initiatives with local workforce boards.
The open discussion fostered great ideas and recommendations, which will be vital in the mission to address the workforce shortages hospitals are facing. HASC is committed to continuing to create meaningful partnerships to find solutions to these shortages.
Key takeaways included:
- The Central Coast workforce shortage has many ongoing driving forces, including faculty shortages and pay disparities, limited training capacity and clinical practice sites, retirements and an aging workforce, high employee turnover, pay and competition.
- Hospitals, academic institutions and workforce development partners must continue collaborating and creating alignment among sectors.
- An introduction to the Central Coast K-16 Regional Collaborative, an impact initiative of K-12, community college, California State University (CSU), University of California, and industry partners. The collaborative aims to create a Central Coast region in which disadvantaged students achieve their goals within K-16 education and secure high-wage, high-impact careers in local industries that advance opportunities for upward mobility.
- A legislative update on AB 1577. The bill requires health facilities to meet with community colleges or CSUs, upon their request, to work in good faith toward meeting their nursing clinical placement needs.
Next steps to consider:
- Continue collaborating and creating partnerships that will help address the staffing shortages in the region.
- The collaborative will work to identify shortage jobs and create collective tasks to address and fill vacancies.
- Academic institutions and hospitals will continue discussing clinical rotation needs and working together to find solutions.
For more information on HASC’s workforce initiatives, please contact Soyinka Allen, program director for workforce development, at [email protected].