Roy Swift, Ph.D., executive director of Workcred, an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) affiliate,recently shared expert insights as a presenter atthe first meeting oftheGlobal Advisory Council for Healthcare Workforce (GACHW). The Interprofessional Healthcare Workforce Institute convened GACHWestablished to meet the need of developing a highly-skilled and market-ready workforceto act as a third party validation body for assessment-based certificates for common employability skills, data analytics, and precision skills training for the healthcare professions.
Dr. Swiftjoined stakeholders to offer advicethat will help inform current or proposed academic standards, work-based training, and experiential learning opportunities, programs, and policies. He brings expertise from his current position at Workcred, where he leads efforts to better align industry, education, and credentialing organizations to close the skills gap, which involves ensuring that credentials have validity, are market valued, and are proven to be effective in the workplace.
The GACHW will focus on all facets of the healthcare professions, which will align organizational strategy and business agility to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, business growth, investment opportunities, and economic development. It will do this by: 1) Establishing competency standards and a common language that provides a framework for healthcare and education systems worldwide; 2) Articulating the needs of industry, specifically those which can be addressed through certification, competencies, skills demonstration, and other activities; 3) Ensuring a well-trained, highly-skilled workforce and strategy to attain and retain healthcare professionals; and 4) Strengthening the global health systems and improving population health through better collection, management, and use of information.
"It is imperative that we address the growing gap that has resulted between formal academic training and the competencies and skills needed to ensure workforce readiness," said William Rudman, RHIA, Ph.D., executive director of the Interprofessional Healthcare Workforce Institute. "Our mission as an Institute is to meet the needs of industry by aligning education and workforce training to build a skilled and competent labor pool to achieve better health for the community."
"I'm excited toplay arole in GACHW efforts to provide feedback on bridging the gap between healthcare industry needs and quality education during such a critical time for health professionals," said Dr. Swift.
Dr. Swift is also a member of the Interprofessional Healthcare Workforce Institute's Executive Advisory Council that will address the development of job standards, apprenticeships, and careers pathways; the impact of eHealth on current, new, and emerging roles in the healthcare sector; business operations; and healthcare certificates.
