The demand for healthcare workers in Wisconsin outpaces workforce growth.
That’s one of the major takeaways from the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Health Care Workforce Report.
WHA recently presented the report to lawmakers in the state capital.
One of the biggest challenges is the “silver tsunami”—the health care workers aging out of the workforce without enough people to fill their positions and those older adults needing more health care themselves.
“In this year’s report, we know we’re starting to gain traction, right? Our workforce is growing, but not fast enough,” said Ann Zenk, WHA Senior Vice President of Workforce and Clinical Practice.
WHA does make some recommendations to help solve this and other issues facing hospitals.
This includes:
· Creating and expanding educational and occupational pathways.
· Breaking down barriers to entering and remaining in the health care workforce.
· Supporting the use of technology for the benefit of patients and the health care workforce.
“We have to grow our workforce faster, but as hard as we work, it’s pretty unlikely we’re going to keep up with the Silver Tsunami,” said Zenk. “We also have to relieve our workforce of unnecessary work and burnout and we have to make sure we can leverage teams and technology and innovation to continue to meet the need.”
This is the 21st year the WHA has put out this workforce report.
