Celebrating Success with Virginia Mason Jobs to Careers

Tuesday night was a special one for a group of Virginia Mason Medical Center employees. They are the first graduates from the Jobs to Careers Medical Assistant Program.

Jobs to Careers is an innovative work-based education program that provides entry-level health care workers with a pathway to become medical assistants. The program was developed to remove barriers that prevent many entry-level workers from pursuing additional education. The program combines traditional classroom work with online and on-the-job expereince and coaching.

"I wanted to go back to school, but with needed to work full-time, it wouldn't be possible with out this program," newly minted MA Mary Pelaxo said. "It's an awesome program."

The investment in frontline workers is one way to fulfill the increasing demand for highly skilled and qualified health care workers.

"As a manager, I see the program as an opportunity to invest in my employees," Karen Morar said. "Instead of just hiring someone who will just see this position as a job, I get to help someone find an area they are passionate about and then help them reach their goal."

Jobs to Careers is a partnerships between Renton Technical College and Virginia Mason Medical Center. The Health Work Force Institute is involved in the national roll-out of the Jobs to Careers program, providing expertise to Virginia Mason and three additional sites around the country.

The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Hitachi Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Labor, and is managed by Jobs for the Future. Virginia Mason is one of only 17 sites in the nation and the only one in Washington to receive funding for the program.

Can we call it a pathway if no one can us it?

Last week, I attended Jobs for the Future's health care work force national policy summit RX for a New Health Care Workforce. I participated in discussions on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act and the prognostications over Congress' next steps. We are pretty excited about how career development might be included and encouraged in any re-authorization. However, there are some major hurdles left to address.

During the conference, many warmly referenced the career pathways in health care. I get frustrated when people talk about health care as the model industry for career pathways. There is a dirty little secret understood by those of us in health care, and especially the 4.7 million front line health care workers in our country - While there are many health care career options, in many cases there is no way for entry-level workers to move into them. Nursing assistants, medical assistants, and home care aides are blocked from progressing on the proscribed career paths because many face the impossible choice of working or going to school.

Let's take nursing as a case study. The well known path from entry-level is from certified nurses aide to licensed practical/vocational nurse to registered nurse (associates degree.) Each step on this path requires at least one year of full-time education, something most workers simply cannot afford. And there are few programs that meet the needs of part-time students. In Washington State there are only two. One is the Rural Outreach Nursing Education that HWFI helped Lower Columbia College create for rural workers across the state.

Pre-requisites can also complicate the journey. In some programs, up to one year of full-time education is required before a student can apply for entry. Students can be further confounded when they take pre-requisites at one college, then try to enroll in another only to discover that the courses are not accepted and must be retaken.

Perhaps one way to help make career pathways more accessible in health care is to move the stops along the pathway closer together while "health care core pre-requisite." This new stop would be a new "health care career credential" developed by the industry to fulfill some pre-requisites. It could include:

• A survey of health care careers
• Strategies for success in college (time management, note taking, reading, and study skills)
• 100 level college English
• 100 level math
• Medical terminology

Workers completing the coursework would receive a new industry recognized credential. The industry may signal the higher value work expected from such an employee by offering recognition that could include a pin for a badge and a small increase in pay. The specific competencies that are taught in each course could be defined by the industry, creating demand for community colleges to standardize at least these offerings.

Most importantly, this credential would add a new rung on teh ehalth care career ladder, making that first step up a stretch instead of a chasm. It would provide an opportunity and a reason for people to begin taking college courses and an experience of success in post-secondary education. Think of how many lives could be changed!

By Ed Phippen

Nursing Student Loan Repayment Option

The Health Resources and Services Administration is offering RNs a break on their student loans.

The program pays off a portion of student loans for RNs working in variety of non-profit health care settings, in return the RN agrees to continue working for a period of time. The amount of loan repaid varies from 60-85%, depending on the length of service the nurse agrees to provide.

The program is aimed at keeping nurses on the job and filling critical shortages. To learn more or to apply, check out the HERSA website.

HWFI Executive Director Featured on NPR's Marketplace

National Public Radio's Marketplace is exploring new avenues for low-income workers to receive education and move up the career ladder. Health Work Force Institute Executive Director Jaime Garcia was a featured expert for a story on options in health care. The story focused on the Healthcare Career Advancement Program or H-CAP. The program is a partnership between employers, unions, and state governments. Each partner provides funding to help entry level workers access the training they need to move into skilled positions. To learn more, listen to the entire story: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/02/05/mm-stern/.

Health Care Jobs Continue to Grow

According to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care industry will add 3 million new jobs by 2018. The new positions won't just be in nursing. Demand is expected to range across the care spectrum, from physicians to techs and aides. One way to prepare for the demand is to provide education and training to current entry-level workers to move into skilled positions. Implementing these programs is one area of focus for the Health Work Force Insitute. To learn more about the Bureau of Labor's report, check out this National Public Radio report.