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
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