As the nation prepares to provide care for the increasing proportion of older adults and the widespread implications of healthcare reform, healthcare workers are aging out of the sector, revealing an increased need for skilled workers, according to a new report by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.
“The impending retirement of such a highly skilled workforce is creating shortages that could potentially affect the process and delivery of certain types of care”
Compared to other sectors, the demographic profile of the US healthcare sector is disproportionately composed of older workers. Yet a lower percentage of health care organizations have assessed (to a moderate/great extent)the age of their workforces (29%), the skills they anticipate needing (42%), or the competency sets of current employees (48%), compared to other industries (43%, 54% and 61%, respectively).
Evidence suggests that the sector is at least somewhat aware of the impending skills gap. About two in three employees in the health sector have received formal training from their employers (62%), and greater than one in three workers are involved in decision-making task forces (36%) or self-managed teams (39%).
"The impending retirement of such a highly skilled workforce is creating shortages that could potentially affect the process and delivery of certain types of care," said Center Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, co-primary investigator for the (2009) Talent Management Study and co-author of the report. "But the good news is that the health care sector is serious about investing in their employees."