CareerSTAT Healthcare Workforce Development Academy
Beginning in November 2017, CareerSTAT brought together 11 healthcare organizations for the CareerSTAT Healthcare Workforce Development Academy. This year-long learning experience helps healthcare organizations develop more diverse talent pipelines, better retain and advance their entry-level staff, and proactively fill critical healthcare positions. An initiative of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, CareerSTAT is a network of nearly 300 healthcare professionals who are committed to advancing healthcare’s frontline workers. The Academy supports CareerSTAT’s goal to accelerate the adoption of business practices that support frontline worker education, training, and advancement. Over the coming months, we are profiling each of the Academy participants and their progress. Read profiles of other CareerSTAT Academy Members here.
UC Davis Health
Understanding Your Workforce
The Overview
Creating an environment where workers can acquire new skills, advance, and succeed is not always easy. But hiring from within just makes good sense for employers, supporting and encouraging their workforce while reducing recruitment and onboarding costs. Despite the challenges, UC Davis Health is using the peer-learning opportunity of the CareerSTAT Academy to reimagine employee education and create career paths for frontline workers. The 625-bed hospital facility serves 33 counties over 65,000 square miles in California and drives research and medical innovation in the area and needs talented employees to be part of the team.
The Work
UC Davis Health is recognized as one of the “most wired” hospitals in the United States, so leveraging technology to boost employee learning was an obvious choice. UC Davis Health created a technology-forward blended learning model that they are using to revise their medical coding and abstracting program. Blended learning models are finding their way into more and more education spaces. These models offer more flexibility and lower costs, which are ideal as organizations look to develop their frontline talent.
But workforce development programs don’t flourish a bubble — they need leadership and financial support. As UC Davis Health is laying the groundwork for this fundamental work, they have applied for grant funding. Ideally, these early investments will show strong ROI, and by making the business case, they can cultivate more sustainable funding.
Results
UC Davis Health leveraged microgrant funds available through the CareerSTAT Academy to purchase laptops and other equipment for their current, and future, blended learning programs.
The Future
UC Davis Health is looking to the future, always driven by the question, “How can we support our most important resource – our employees?” This question leads them to continually review, rethink, and redesign their workforce career development programs.
For example, they have a wealth of ideas around supporting workers who need additional English language assistance. The hospital wants to ensure that language isn’t the barrier to advancement for its frontline workers. They are also evaluating an in-house Certified Nursing Assistant program to provide current employees with clinical baseline skills that will initiate growth opportunities in healthcare.
