Ep. 203: The Nursing Workforce in a Post Covid Landscape

What this episode covers

In today’s episode we chat with Geoffrey Roche, MPA. Geoffrey is the son of a nurse, future of work and education expert, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging advocate, champion for transforming health equity, and the host of the Ed Up Health Up podcast. His professional career includes over nine years in hospital administration as a strategic advisor to the President and CEO and department director of various departments, including Business Development and Planning, Government Affairs, Community Health, and Public Relations, for Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono. At Lebanon Valley College and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology he held senior leadership roles focused on strategic partnerships, organizational strategy, and business development. As Senior Vice President, Business & Workforce Development at Dignity Health Global Education, he led a diverse team focused on developing institutional relationships with leading health systems while simultaneously championing national conversations and initiatives to develop innovative diversity, equity, and inclusion solutions for the healthcare workforce. “We expected to see a drop in enrollment before the pandemic for all healthcare programs. Why did Healthcare and Education not come together to combat this?” - Geoffrey Roche “We have made bad decisions as a society when taking care of our healthcare workforce.” - Geoffrey Roche“We have five generations of people in the workforce, and this is the first time we have had this.” - Geoffrey Roche“As Leaders we need to harness the creativity and passion for all generations in the workforce.” - Geoffrey Roche 2:25: What is happening in the nursing workforce? 4:30: The Supply and Demand Gap Challenge and addressing culture in healthcare organizations. 5:30: The Gig Economy is now in healthcare, and we have to get used to this model. 8:00: Millennials in the workforce and creating a culture that allows people to be the best they can be by creating a community and culture that allows them to thrive. This means they must be valued and heard. 14:00: What do we need to do as healthcare leaders to invest in our people? 17:30: Why you need to listen to your workforce, instead of just hiring consultants. 20:30: If we do not have a healthcare workforce, it will impact education, clinical placements and preceptorships. 22:50: Apprenticeships, why they are important and why healthcare has been slow to implement them 29:27: We need to do more work in the K-12 Landscape to promote and encourage people to go into healthcare careers. It is important to learn that there are jobs in healthcare that aren’t being a doctor or a nurse.