Originally published by the NC Medical Journal

Hugh Tilson, Jr., November 1, 2022

Despite local, regional, state, and national efforts, historical shortages and maldistribution of health care workers in North Carolina are well-documented and unrelieved. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated many of the underlying challenges faced by community health systems, which cannot provide services or implement programs without an adequate, well-trained, and well-supported workforce.

This is an excerpt of an article published making the case for the NC Center on the Workforce for Health. View the full piece on the NC Medical Journal website.

Even before the pandemic, many in the health care workforce were experiencing burnout and fatigue. During the pandemic, many health care workers were deemed “essential” and rightfully called “heroes” for risking their and their families’ health, doing their jobs when others wouldn’t or couldn’t, and working long hours in new environments that required different skills. These factors added stress to an already struggling workforce; high levels of patient deaths and national politicization of the response to COVID-19 increased the burden experienced by this workforce.

Workforce needs are too often assumed, not planned, and only rise to attention when essential health care delivery is stressed beyond capacity. As we widen our focus on the social drivers of health, the workers who produce health have already expanded to include more than the traditional health care workforce. North Carolina needs an organization to provide a persistent, coordinated, and intentional process of health workforce planning if we are to develop and sustain the workforce for health.

North Carolina Medical Journal

Tilson, Hugh H. 2022. “Building a Workforce for Health in North Carolina.” North Carolina Medical Journal 83 (6): 398–403. https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.83.6.398.