← Advancing Health
Loading summary
Transcript19 lines
- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Advancing Health. Hospitals continually invest in building a sustainable, successful and satisfied workforce to deliver skilled and compassionate care. The American Hospital Association's 2026 Healthcare Workforce Scan offers tips and insights to help them do that.
- [00:21]
B
I'm Elisa addispakwchaga Group Vice President, Clinical affairs and Workforce with the American Hospital Association. Joining me this year are Dr. Gracia Pitcher, Chief Medical Officer and Patient Experience Dyad Leader with Essentia Health, and Larissa Africa, Vice President, Healthcare Workforce Solutions with Staff Garden by Ascend Learning. All right, we're here to talk about workforce, specifically the 2026 AHA healthcare workforce scan which is sponsored by Staff Garden by Ascend Learning. This scan highlights a number of ways hospitals and health systems are supporting their workforce, including things like redesigning their team models and the way that they provide care, using all sorts of technology and gaining value from AI and sustaining a multi generational workforce. So we're going to just jump right in. And Larissa, I'll start with you, but really would love to hear from a national view in your work with helping educate that next generation and current generation of a workforce as to what you're seeing in terms of how people are moving around their teams, their staff, and taking a team based approach to really improving both their workflows and their access to their workforce.
- [01:32]
C
That's a great question. You know, when I think about the team based nursing, it's not a new approach, right? What we're seeing is going back to historical models that worked really well in the past. And we what I'm seeing now is that organizations are really leaning into this model because it allows every member of the care team to work at top of their license. You have an RN who focuses on complex clinical judgment while the LPNs, the CNAs, PCTs or patient care techs, behavioral health specialists, and even when you think about virtual nurses who take on that work, that matches the RN stuff strengths. And I think that's really where organizations are looking to they're looking in detail at what tasks are absolutely required for a registered nurse, what can be offloaded and what tasks can be automated using technology. So it's making sure that everyone is again practicing on top of their license and playing to their strengths.
- [02:38]
B
Gracia, I know you've worked very closely with your chief nurse looking at ways to support these changes in the care model, not just for nurses, but for the entire care team. You want to talk a little bit about that?
- [02:50]
D
Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the things that we learned in our four way into the acute Care space was we have a playbook that we developed building on the right care and the right licensure and making sure that everybody's skill set is really used to their maximum abilities. What we learned is, is that we scoped that for the nursing related care tasks rather than including our physician group. And it was really great because we were able to increase our access for patients that needed an acute hospitalization. That also meant I needed to recruit physicians. And so we needed to reframe when we started to go into the ambulatory side of our business, where we really said, you know, those same things, what tasks are critical for an rn, an lpn, you know, can we have a patient care technician or medical assistant do what skills? And then what things really do we want our advanced practitioners and our physicians doing? Making sure that they're not doing tasks that don't require their level of licensure and similar. We also want to leverage our other clinical colleagues. So really looking at all of the talent that we have within our ambulatory and acute care spaces and saying what things go where and then partnering with either vendors or our electronic health records to say, well, what tasks really don't need a human at all? What could be automated, what could be agentic, what could be supported through technology to really help support that joy that people have in work and most people who are in clinical facing roles, it's that interaction with the patients that we serve.
- [04:31]
B
Absolutely. I love that you both describe this as really breaking it down to what is the work, what really needs to be where and with whom? And does it need to be a whom? Who gets that work? Does it need to be a person? Which leads me directly to my next question, which is, you know, I mean, you can't read an article or look at a newsletter without AI being in at least two or three of the headlines. Right. It's showing a huge amount of promise and generating just as many questions. Where are you seeing AI being used in your work? And AlertSA. Again, I'll start with you both being helpful in the work that you do in patient care, in the operational processes. What are you thinking about in terms of making sure you're using it responsibly?
- [05:18]
C
You know, I think there's a couple of things that's very exciting to me around AI. One is the clinical decision support, which we talked a little bit about, and also operational efficiency. We're seeing AI help identify sepsis risk patients, patient deterioration, readmission probability sooner. I think one of the things I want to be clear about is we're not looking for AI to replace judgment for our clinicians. It's giving clinicians a smarter early warning system. It should reduce the cognitive load on staff ambient documentation tools. I'm really excited about that. That's already being used by our colleague physicians and I'd love to see it in nursing as well, where we can capture diploma clinical conversations with our patients and drafting notes. Again, you think about what takes up a lot of time for our nurses so we can leverage the technology around using AI responsibly. I think something that we need to keep in mind as we're adopting new technology is making sure that we think about governance, but we need to think about what problem is this solved for us, how is it trained, where could bias show up and what guardrails are already in place or we need to put into place as organizations. I've conducted several interviews with CNOs across the country and just trying to get an understanding, engage. How far are they in this digital transformation? And they're all at different phases and some haven't even thought about what it's going to look like for their organization. Some are in the governance and some are implementing a lot of AI technologies.
- [07:07]
B
Exactly where are the technologies that can help make the work easier and the work, as you said, Gracia, more focused on what you're there to do and what you train to do from your perspective on the ground, how are you bringing AI into your work, Gracia?
- [07:22]
D
So I will say that we've explored our ambient listening. We're actually in an ambulatory setting and started deploying it in the inpatient setting. We want to start testing it for the nursing care team, recognizing they have high documentation burden as well with, you know, the Q2 hour turns for safe skin care and practice. And so how do we have that integrated and holistic approach to all healthcare team members in a way that helps us focus on the care and still have that documentation? I think Larissa said something that's really important. Yes, we want to reduce the cognitive burden, but we need to educate, I think, our patients and our clinicians and operational care teams on what are the current limitations and things that you need to watch for from a safety standpoint with these tools. You know, you hear peppered around fear that we're trying to replace people. I will say that all of us on this call know we don't have people. This is not about replacing people. We know we had what is 103% turnover since the pandemic on the healthcare workforce and potentially so we really need to help us sustain and have tools that help with that resilience piece and well being of our colleagues. I also see other places that I get excited about because we always talk about and I'm sure Larissa can share many stories where people say, well, I could help improve this if I had the right data. And then we started asking a whole bunch of questions. But how do we use technology to take that data into information? The knowledge, insight, insights then lead to us making decisions and taking action in a more effective and efficient way that helps reduce the cognitive load, but has an accurate problem that we're solving for at the end of the day. Think of all the insights that we have for a patient that happens in the interaction that even if you think about the ambient dictation that exists today, there's a lot of things that it's about the diagnosis at the end of the visit. But think of all of those really important things, like let's say that Mr. Smith only comes on Tuesdays. Well, if we could leverage that information into our access workflows, that we only offer appointments on a Tuesday when it's needed, and whether it's virtual touches or in person, then that helps us be, you know, more efficient and effective and helps that patient feel like they were seen, heard and the information they're giving right now, we all know that lives in our clinicians brains. Think about those clinics where the staff have worked together for 20 years and they know Mr. Smith and they know his daughter and they know all of the people that go to church with him and all of those things. How do we take that really rich information and make sure that we have that portrait to help support our patients and bring that up to the clinician? So when we do have a new clinician seeing them, they can have that insight instead of it living in one care team member's brain.
- [10:17]
B
I love that idea, really spreading it out. Now as we think about this work, obviously we all know that the baby boom generation is exiting many of the healthcare roles they have filled for 30 and 40 and 50 years. And we're really doing our best to recruit the next generation. So how are you using technology and AI and all of these things to bring that into thinking about education, career pathways, ways to keep people in the building and really enrich their ability? Because what worked for both of you in your clinical careers is no longer what the next generation is looking for. And Gracia, I'm going to toss this one to you to start.
- [11:03]
D
I think Larissa started us out with the right frame. First, I think we need to challenge ourselves in health care. What requires a visit and leads to still outstanding care. And I will say that our individuals that have been in practice longer will say, well, everything's a visit. We have to see people in practice. I think we did learn in the pandemic that we could do a lot of really outstanding care in a virtual setting. And so how do we push our comfort zones and still deliver that safe, best, highest quality care to our care teams? And then what expertise is needed to serve the need of the patient? And I think kind of looking at that on paper and basics helps us to solve for the problem. What is the problem we're solving for? We want to make sure we have a system that's accessible, available and affordable. Our patients really care about the cost of healthcare and when we can meet that, it also helps balance that workforce. Right. And make sure that they have what they need to find the joy and fulfillment in the career they're doing. It's very helpless to feel like, okay, well I can't solve for the person who doesn't have access to me because of transportation. I think technology can help us solve for that by allowing virtual touches or other care settings to be explored. We're actually talking about when we add agentic care, having a job description and seeing it really as a clinical colleague, as a patient advocate from the patient facing lens and trying to see how do we fit that in and help reduce that fear. Recognizing again that governance and that safety framework that we need to ensure that we have so that we have testing and retesting and make sure that what we're seeing is accurate and reflects true results rather than a bias that could come out from the inputs.
- [12:45]
B
Larissa, you spend your days in educating and building the next generation of education. How do you view the challenge?
- [12:53]
C
I love what Gracia was saying because I think it's a combination of new roles emerging in healthcare, but it's also seeing some of the traditional roles evolving. About a year and a half ago I helped with A1L when they released a guiding principle on nurses role in digital transformation. Right. So that helps serve as guidance on how our roles need to evolve as nurse leaders. But we also need to think about what the educational pathways look like for the future. There's AI related micro credentials that our non nursing colleagues in the hospitals can embark on. There's roles such as non community health workers who can be responsible for visiting individuals in the community when they lack, lack access to care, for example. I think the Other piece here too is going back to the earlier comment that Gracia made regarding the data insights. It's how do we make sure that we have the information? So when we think about competency based staffing, for example, what data do we have that informs us of what competencies and skills our nurses have so that when they float to another unit, they truly are prepared and they can take care of those patients? When you look at the education side, it's similar. What data do we have that informs us of where these new graduate nurses are coming in, what competencies they have, where are the gaps and then how do we fill in those gaps versus saying everybody needs the same type of orientation and onboarding and educating from the ground up? I think we really need to look at leveraging technology so that we can be more efficient in our education onboarding that goes all the way to professional development. When you look at clinical ladder, that's all a manual process for most organizations and our Generation Z, they expect the technology to work. They look for career mobility. You can't do that when everything is on paper. I, for example, would know what are the areas that my organization's looking at, how do I continue to grow, where do I find opportunities to learn and opportunities to get involved in my organization? So it helps me grow professionally and then it also has a personal fulfillment. So I think it's really leveraging the technologies that we have and developing our workforce and retaining them.
- [15:26]
B
I love that. And my last question, I'll start with you, Gracia, to that last point, how are you thinking about having such a diverse workforce and such diverse needs? As you said, Gen Z wants it on an app that's available on their phones and 24 7. And those in the baby boom generation who are still working are like, just have a conversation with me, pick up the phone and talk to me. It's just a very different approach across four generations who are in the workforce. How are you thinking about making sure that as you make these changes, you're supporting all of the different approaches and all of the different comfort levels?
- [16:10]
D
I think that we're all going to have to get comfortable being a little bit uncomfortable in the future, given the challenges that Healthcare broadly is experiencing. I had the privilege of developing a presentation on trust for our board recently and one of the things that came in my research was the concept of how do we seek information based on generational differences. And we're all patients in our own health systems. And really when you look at the silent generation, it was everything you got was your trusted doctor and it was a physician at the time that you would have seen by the time you get to Gen Alpha, it's actually social media. Well, what can you take from that insight? That we know that the way that people are choosing to engage with health care is different, and those same people are the people who are our workforce. And so I would say that what people are looking for is flexibility, life work, integration. And I say integration instead of balance, just because I think balance suggests that one thing gives while, you know, another is at risk. And I think really it's what works for people, but allowing that to be unique to the individual. So what may have been something that we did for 80 hours a week, it's not something that a future generation wants, and that's okay. We need to shift and adapt to that. I think technology is going to be the support tool as it improves, that helps us solve for that flexibility and adaptive workforce that we need. Larissa said something I think is important. A career architecture is also important for people. How do we let things that we've done in the past where we do temporary reassignments where people can grow, and it's a safe thing, instead of an interim role where you're like, ooh, do I want this role? We do a temporary assignment where, say, we're going to fill this. And sometimes we have people who fall in love with that, and then we have some people who have that safe space to go. This is not for me. And so really allowing those learning moments, I think will be important.
- [18:13]
B
Absolutely. Larissa, close us out.
- [18:16]
C
When I think about it, I think about my parents who are just retired very recently, starting to use the technology, but very similar, it's giving those who didn't grow up with the technology a safe space to learn and giving them the attention as well, and giving them specific directions and understanding how they learn to get them through the process. Right. And then even allowing millennials and Gen Zs to teach our older generation, so then that gives them fulfillment as well. I think for me, at the end of the day, it's creating belongingness across the generations. Not necessarily treating everyone the same, but it's giving each person what they need to excel.
- [19:05]
B
I love that, and I love the idea of having each generation teach to their specialty and their ability, because I think there's a lot to be learned up and down those generations. Gracia, Larissa, thank you so much for joining me, sharing your insights, the great work that you do. The viewpoints shared here are just some of those that are included in the 2026 AHA Healthcare Workforce Scan. It's based on a review of reports, studies, and other data sources from leading organizations and researchers. The scan provides valuable insights, practical recommendations to help your organization think innovatively and act boldly to support, retain, and recruit staff. And I can't thank our two guests today enough for sharing their insights. Thank you. If you'd like to learn more about the latest healthcare workforce trends and real world approaches to guide your workforce strategies, be sure to check out the AHA's 2026 Healthcare Workforce Scan at www.aha.org aha-forceforce-scan
- [20:07]
A
thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.