Health Workforce Development: Aligning Interprofessional Education, Team-based Models of Care, Organizational Culture, DEI Strategies and Workforce Development
Interprofessional practice and education has a great opportunity to think beyond the traditional healthcare team and impact health and learning outcomes by considering the health professions workforce in light of equity, race and caste, and workforce development. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought awareness to the broad array of professionals involved in the care team, beyond the typical. For example, many health care workers who do not have direct patient interactions such as clinical lab professionals played critical roles in providing information on COVID-19 status, yet these professionals are largely unknown to the patient. The field of clinical lab medicine is relatively diverse, bringing questions as to where diversity on the health care team matters. In this Conversation Café, we explore questions around what it means to have a diverse health care team, challenges in achieving diversity on the team, and best practices/opportunities to grow a diverse, representative workforce, and community partnerships to advance these efforts.
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