Workforce Development in Long-Term Health Care

Long-Term Health Care
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Code and Name
Professor’s Name
Date
Long-Term Health Care
The advocacy issue or priority policy that needs attention, study, and resources in the long-term care sector in the coming year is workforce development. In particular, long-term care facilities (LTCF) offer various services, including personal and medical, to individuals who cannot live independently. The majority of patients in the LTCF are older adults and those with acute chronic illnesses. The employee turnover rate in the LTCF sector has been a challenge for an extended period. Healthcare providers are not enough in these facilities to provide quality and reliable services. That is why focusing on workforce development in the LTCF industry has attracted the researcher’s attention to study and understand how the problem of healthcare provider shortage in these facilities can be addressed.
Based on the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there is a projected need for healthcare providers in the LTCF. Specifically, between 2021 and 2031, it is estimated that the need for caregivers in the LTCF will increase by 25%. In the United States (US), there exist about 711,700 job openings for nurses in the LTCF industry (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). The LTCF is one of the sectors with the highest turnover rate. Some workers change their occupations after providing services in the industry for a short duration. Besides, the percentage of older adults is expected to rise rapidly in the next decade. By 2050, the number of individuals over 65 years is projected to double, which will reach around 88 million. The home care workforce is projected to increase by 36% from 2018 to 2028, which is approximately four times the growth rate of total employment in the healthcare industry (American Public Health Association, 2020). Around 1.2 million jobs will be created in the LTCF sector. The LTCF being one of the fastest-growing sectors, something should be done to lower the turnover rate, empower existing healthcare providers, and encourage young people to study nursing to fill the vacant positions. If nothing is done, this problem will have adverse and far-reaching consequences since there will be not enough staff to provide services to patients in the LTCF.
Proper recommendations and a detailed plan of action are needed to promote workforce development in the LTCF industry. Indeed, it is guaranteed that the percentage of older adults is rapidly increasing. A few years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic depicted various vulnerabilities in the LTCF sector, and the primary problem was the shortage of healthcare providers. During that period the industry lost approximately 235,000 workers and the number is expected to rise (Paulin, 2022). Some of the factors that contributed to the reduced workforce were poor pay, burnout, and bad working conditions. In that light, the first recommendation to address this issue is empowering and motivating existing nurses in the LTCF industry so that they remain at work for an extended period without seeking new occupations. That can be done by rewarding the best-performing employees and giving them bonuses and salary increments after meeting the set performance threshold. Moreover, workers with a good track record should be promoted to higher responsibilities. Another recommendation is to provide career training and development programs. That way, healthcare providers will continue to learn how to apply new technologies to enhance the quality of their services. In addition, they will become focused on achieving their long-term career objectives, including becoming effective leaders in the LTCF facilities. For instance, employees willing to enroll in graduate and post-graduate courses should be supported financially by their employers so that they can do it with ease without being stressed, which might adversely affect their job performance. The other recommendation to promote workforce development in the LTCF industry is by encouraging young people to consider studying nursing and other health-related courses (Moisio, 2021). Health organizations should work closely with educational institutions to ensure that the curricula cover vital aspects of the contemporary working environment. They should hold workshops and pu...