The dean of the College of Nursing at Augusta University has been selected to serve as a member of the Healthcare Workforce Commission.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp created the commission with an executive order on April 21. The commission will examine the challenges the healthcare industry has in hiring and retention of workers.
“Across Georgia, communities are in need of nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, emergency medical personnel, and other clinical and nonclinical personnel,” said Kemp. “I am confident these 15 individuals from every corner of our state have the experience, skills, and drive needed to tackle the issues facing our healthcare industry head-on, and I look forward to their findings shaping solutions in the coming years.”
Among the 15 members of the commission is Tanya Sudia, dean of the College of Nursing at Augusta University.
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She said the nurses shortage has been an issue for a long time, but the pandemic made clear it is not just nurses. It is also every other discipline in healthcare, including respiratory and physical therapists and EMTs.
“We’ll be focused on both, like the health care workforce pipeline, said Sudia. “How do we look at our educational programs across the state? What are the needs there? What enhancements can we make? What programs need to be expanded? How do we best do that?”
Sudia said the pipeline can start with education, both four-year college like Augusta University, but also through technical schools, including Augusta Tech and Aiken Tech.
“They’re putting individuals into the workforce, prepared at the associate degree level. We have many bridge programs in nursing so that four-year preparation. We’re also exploring a modified program here to be a three-year program for nursing to get individuals into the workforce faster. We also have a program where we have individuals with a bachelor’s degree that’s not in nursing and offer a master’s degree for them to come into nursing,” she said.
They are looking beyond encouraging high school students to pursue a career in healthcare, to also attract individuals who may want to make a career change. The goal is to create pathways to ease their transition to a healthcare focused career.
Getting people to join the healthcare profession is one thing. Sudia said the next, crucial step is retaining them.
“What are retention strategies for health care team members? Again, whether it be in acute care settings, like our hospital, long term care facilities, public health community agencies. And then how do we continue to build a system that really helps with?,” she said, adding, “It’s not all monetary, it’s really looking at the hours that people work, the conditions in which they work, and what are the things that make them want to stay in a particular work environment, as well as what are the things that are currently causing people to want to leave the healthcare workforce.”
The commission will submit a report on their findings by the end of the year.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
