HRSA Releases Health Workforce Projections and Dashboard
Tracking health workforce projections, such as supply and demand of healthcare professionals by discipline, and studying how funding, policies, and programs affect those levels, can “inform public policy to help prevent shortages and surpluses,” the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced (https://www.asahp.org/asahp-newswire/2021/9/20/hrsa-releases-new-health-workforce-projections-and-dashboard) in September 2021. To achieve that, HRSA created a new dashboard (https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/workforce-projections) that uses projections from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, based on the Health Workforce Simulation Model (HWSM).
HWSM incorporates (https://data.hrsa.gov/Content/Documents/topics/About%20the%20Workforce%20Projections%20Dashboard.pdf) factors like U.S. population size, demographics, and location; new entrants and existing providers in various occupations; and differing levels of access to care. Based on that data, presented at the national and state level, the dashboard projects (https://data.hrsa.gov/Content/Documents/topics/About%20the%20Workforce%20Projections%20Dashboard.pdf):
- Supply (i.e., the number of workers active in the workforce)
- Demand (i.e., the number of workers required to provide a level of services)
- Percent adequacy (i.e., the relationship between the projected future supply and projected future demand)
The dashboard (https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/workforce-projections) shows the projected supply and demand of healthcare workers through 2030 in allied health, behavioral health, long-term care, oral health, primary care, and women’s health. The dashboard also identifies whether the groups practice in both metro and nonmetro areas.
The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/pandemics-have-serious-psychological-implications-for-nurses) has deeply affected nurses across the globe. Many have experienced fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder, and burnout in the workplace, compounding today’s nursing shortage (https://voice.ons.org/advocacy/healthcare-worker-shortage-trump-clashes-with-big-pharma-surprise-billing) in a Catch-22 scenario. ONS advocates for nurse well-being (https://voice.ons.org/topic/nurse-well-being) to help combat the crisis (https://voice.ons.org/advocacy/nursing-shortage-is-a-national-crisis-ana-tells-hhs) by advocating for healthcare policy to restore resilience (https://voice.ons.org/conferences/the-key-to-managing-moral-distress-during-a-pandemic-resiliency) and investing in the future of nursing (https://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/prevent-a-global-nursing-shortage-by-investing-in-nursings-future-who-says), lawmakers, organizations, institutions, and society can help break the cycle and positively impact the profession. Learn how you can advocate for nurses everywhere with the ONS Center for Advocacy and Health Policy (https://www.ons.org/make-difference/ons-center-advocacy-and-health-policy), the Oncology Nursing Podcast (https://www.ons.org/podcasts/episode-33-why-nursing-advocacy-important), and ONS Voice (https://voice.ons.org/advocacy/a-free-lunch-doesnt-exist-how-i-became-an-ons-health-policy-advocate).