The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the healthcare sector will add the most new jobs between 2012 and 2022. Even before the Affordable Care Act was passed, the healthcare sector represented nearly 19 percent of all spending in the nation's economy and 13 percent of all jobs. Community colleges are the pipeline for training and certifying more than half of all healthcare workers.
With more Americans getting healthcare coverage through the ACA, and with baby boomers getting older and inevitably experiencing more issues with their health, there is an increased need for RNs, LPNs, medical assistants, dental hygienists, EMTs, paramedics and pharmacy technicians. These jobs require either an associate degree or certification.
In a 2011 report, "Creating Opportunities in Health Care: The Community College Role in Workforce Partnership," the authors point out that community colleges can "provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in healthcare and ... prepare new workers to succeed and meet the workforce demands for this sector - expanding individual opportunity and economic vitality."
Educating nurses is one of the most important contributions community colleges make to society. But programs that lead to an RN are expensive to run, and finding qualified instructors with a master's degree in nursing is challenging as these nurses can typically earn more money working in direct care. However, it is estimated that there will be 1.2 million job openings for RNs in the U.S. economy by 2020.
And there is already a pool of healthcare workers who have received certification to be LPNs, paramedics or medical assistants, and would benefit from a program dedicated to helping them to become RNs.
Community colleges can work with these individuals and collaborate with local hospitals to create or enhance career pathways for their employees. Partnerships with hospitals are key to training nurses, and offering clinical training at the workplace is vital to the success of these programs.
Community colleges often anticipate the need to provide training and contact healthcare providers to set up a program. That is the case with Portland Community College in Oregon, which created a certificate program for local assisted living centers, providing them with resident assistants responsible for helping residents undertake activities of daily living and maintain their emotional well-being, as well as avoiding falls, infections and skincare problems such as bedsores.
Other innovative programs created by community colleges for the healthcare industry include Renton Technical College in Seattle training entry level workers at the Virginia Mason Medical Center to become medical assistants; Owensboro Community & Technical College helping individuals on the lower rungs of employment at the Owensboro Medical Health System - including nursing aides and pharmacy technicians - become RNs; and Bunker Hill Community College in Boston creating a Community Health Worker Certificate that prepares low-income students to provide underserved neighborhoods with information about health issues and access to healthcare services.
At Ivy Tech in Indiana, we developed a Healthcare Specialist certification that leads to jobs in Dementia Care, Phlebotomy, Pharmacy Technician and Outpatient Insurance Coding. We work with local hospitals, pharmacies and clients to place our graduates in these positions as well as nurses, EMTs, physican's assistants among others.
What all these programs have in common is that community colleges worked with healthcare providers to train their employees offering them flexible hours, on the job training, mentors and accelerated degree programs. These innovative programs lead directly to pay raises and career advancement.
The healthcare sector offers well-paying jobs and opportunities for advancement. Jobs can't be shipped overseas and communities depend on quality health care. Community colleges are on the front lines in training America's healthcare professionals, and will continue to serve our growing healthcare needs.