Safety net practices are important for providing care to patients in underserved areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted these programs and their clinicians with previous studies having predicted that many clinicians are likely to leave their jobs as a result of the pandemic. More research is therefore needed to better understand the specific impacts…
This collection of research articles authored by staff from HRSA-funded Health Workforce Research Centers (HWRCs) are published together as an open access supplement in the Medical Care Research and Review journal, providing a comprehensive picture of the US health care and health support workforce today. Below are the individual articles from the supplement: COVID-19 and…
The Health Workforce Deficit Estimator is an online tool to help state and federal planners consider different strategic approaches to ensure sufficient heath workforce for COVID-19. Built off the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation demand model, the tool currently shows deficits in supply for respiratory therapists, intensivists, hospitalists, and critical care nurses in certain…
North Carolina, as a state with a significant Black population and fast-growing Hispanic population, is greatly reflective of national demographic changes. Due to these demographic changes, the US is currently facing challenges to recruit and retain a general surgery workforce that mirrors the population. This article examines the slow and gradual diversification of the surgical…
States responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with a variety of approaches to ensure adequate health workforce capacity as well as strategies to expand access to care for needed services. In order to better understand pandemic issues and challenges faced by states as well as strategies they used to address them, the Health Workforce Technical Assistance…
The Mullan Institute estimates that between now and March 20, 2021, 7% of counties in the USwill experience hospital workforce staffing strains due to COVID-19 hospitalizations. Using new county-level projections of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU occupancy provided, it is estimated that 209 counties will need to implement crisis workforce strategies. This involves tiered staffing strategies…
Since health professionals began administering 2 FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020, the rollout has encountered several challenges and failed to meet initial targets for total vaccinations provided. The current health workforce has been identified as one possible bottleneck for distributing the vaccine, prompting a general call to authorize as many health care professionals to…
In response to the drastically increased demand for health services caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many states adjusted their regulations to expand access to services and assist in the expansion of health workforce capacity. More research needs to be done to understand what kinds of policy changes were made and how they impacted the health…
Clinical setting and geographic location effects access to surgical services and potentially the quality of care. Through examining the distribution of general surgeons across billing entities and within hospital referral regions (HRRs), a trend towards practice in larger medical organizations from traditional hospital settings is emerging. This article reviews how population changes over time in…
Increasing nursing workforce diversity is essential to quality health care. Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) programs are a primary path to becoming a registered nurse and an important source of nursing diversity. While public institutions contribute the highest total number of diverse ADN graduates, private for-profit institutions have the highest percentage of non-white graduates. This…
