Despite improvements in maternal and child health, significant inequities persist in the United States, including disparities in maternal and infant mortality, low birth weight, asthma, and developmental disabilities. A well-trained, supported, and diverse maternal and child health workforce is an important structural factor in addressing these inequities. Existing maternal and child health indices capture some…
Stigma is a social process in which individuals are labeled, stereotyped, and separated from others based on characteristics perceived as undesirable. When this process is linked to a health condition, it can lead to social isolation, discrimination, delayed care-seeking, missed treatments, depression, shame, and underdiagnosis. Health-related stigma has been documented across a range of conditions,…
Millions of patients receive care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), including both long-term residents and short-stay patients recovering after hospitalization. Staffing challenges following COVID-19 have made turnover a major concern, especially among nursing staff, as it is linked to poorer patient outcomes and has become a focus of federal quality programs. However, far less is…
The COVID-19 pandemic produced major disruptions in the US labor market, reshaping patterns of employment and wages across many industries. In the broader workforce, the lowest-income workers experienced some of the largest wage gains during the pandemic recovery, leading to a compression of wage disparities. However, it remains unclear whether similar patterns occurred within the…
The Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Washington (UW CHWS) leverages data to track the allied health workforce using multiple public datasets. Previously, researchers developed interactive web-based dashboards that allow users to compare state supply estimates and examine aging trends among allied health professionals in 3-year intervals (2011, 2014, 2017). Researchers also…
Implicit bias among healthcare professionals is one of many factors contributing to disparities in healthcare and health outcomes. Similar to the general population, clinicians may hold unconscious attitudes or stereotypes related to race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, weight, mental illness, and other characteristics, which can influence communication, treatment decisions, and quality of care. Although…
A patient-centered approach to clinical care is associated with improved adherence, greater patient and clinician satisfaction, increased trust, reduced anxiety, and better health outcomes. Patient-centered communication (PCC) emphasizes skills such as active listening, empathy, partnership building, and understanding patients’ experiences and social context to strengthen the clinician-patient relationship. However, disparities in PCC can occur across…
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid expansion of the use of travel nurses—registered nurses (RNs) hired on short-term contracts to meet immediate labor needs. What began as a pandemic-era response has become increasingly normalized, prompting a reconsideration of the assumed relationship between professionalism and tenure. Yet little is known about how this expansion has shaped…
Attention to burnout among healthcare professionals has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, with known associations of negative clinical and organizational outcomes as well as reduced quality of life. However, faculty responsible for training the next generation of healthcare professionals have received less attention, despite experiencing significant burnout. Faculty from underrepresented minority backgrounds often have additional…
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified longstanding health workforce shortages, with hospitals, nursing facilities, and rural providers struggling to retain staff even after COVID-19 hospitalizations declined. Historically, healthcare employment has shown a countercyclical relationship with the broader economy, expanding during downturns such as the Great Recession. These dynamics, influenced by gender, race, and macroeconomic conditions, suggest that…
