The importance of training & development in Healthcare:
Training and developing your education in the healthcare industry is a constant on-going process with the ever-demanding technological advances we see on a day-to-day basis. As the industry grows, so does the need for specialization of the different parts. Your education should never stop at your diploma or certificates and should continue with changing times and advancements in the healthcare sector. For employees working in the healthcare industry dealing with the health and welfare of humanity, it is especially important and critical to be consistently educated through continuing education in technical and specialty areas to cover a wide array of topics from those working in patient care to those in specialty fields.
Continuing education or career development is a bit different from traditional training, as continuing education is teaching individuals for future needs, changes, advancements, and promotions. Traditional training is teaching individuals for their specific job role, whereas development is teaching for current positions or other positions employees may hold in the future. This continuing education process is just as important as ever in healthcare and should be a priority in your healthcare career, whether you’re an employer or employee.
“Growing Your Own” workforce:
Looking at your long-term vision, whether you are an employer or an employee, you must think about how you can grow. Employers are looking for new and more innovative ways to invest in their employees, to engage them, and retain their employment. Employees are looking for ways they can unleash their talent, move up the ladder, and become more successful in their field of work. It is up to each person to create a committed and passionate workforce to help deliver long-term goals. Growing your own is making an educational investment into yourself or others to establish learning centered around certain needs, whether they are community/local needs, organizational needs, environmental needs, or other needs necessary for success.
At NeKY RHIO, we have been fortunate to be able to offer the opportunity to help grow our own Health IT workforce through our Workforce Development Grant received in 2013. From our pilot initiatives to our last completers, we have grown our program to meet the needs of our region’s health IT business and workforce needs. It’s not every day you run across a program that includes a certificate value for little cost that teaches and trains the workforce to better their skills to meet the needs of our area’s Healthcare growth, all the while meeting complicated environmental factors by creating a fully online course. We are also creating our in-house HIPAA training that is geared towards a growing our own approach as well.
These opportunities are few and far between these days and are something to really pay attention to. Although we are not the only organization around gearing education and training opportunities for our region’s workforce, we know that providing the opportunity to do so will help us establish a more robust healthcare workforce for those willing to participate.
As a recap, education and training are essential in a growing healthcare workforce, and if the opportunity presents itself for you to grow your own or become a member of a grow your own workforce, then one should not put it aside or under the table. Take a leap and invest in these opportunities and your investments will indeed payoff!