A nursing staff with advanced practice experience and the increasing role of health IT are two prominent hiring trends at Penn Medicine this year as health systems look for ways to improve patient outcomes.
About 35 percent of the 1,000 hires it expects to make this year will be nurses and nursing support, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Pharmacists with clinical experience will also be a focus, said Judy Schueler, the chief human resources officer and vice president of organizational development.
Nurses and physician assistants who tend to be focused on highly specialized areas including oncology, cardiovascular services and neurosciences are much in demand, said Schueler. “We’re leveraging those two positions in much larger numbers.”
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One emerging field in healthcare is digital health, which covers a wide range of responsibilities for developing and harnessing health IT to improve patient care. Bill Hanson was hired as the chief medical information officer for Penn Medicine in 2010. “We have grown significantly in terms of the number of people working in the IT department because we need programmers, people who interface with clinicians and helpdesk people.”
With more clinicians using various apps and portable digital devices as part of their practice, the greater the need for a team of people to service that technology.
Hanson oversees 50 -60 clinicians in full time and part time roles to implement an array of digital health projects.
“A lot of time is spent in the development of tools because there is so much in the way of clinical apps, electronic medical record (EMR) implementation, the use of the iPad for teaching. It also means more opportunities for IT staff,” Schueler said.
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Job roles are also changing in line with how hospitals deliver care. The number of patient care navigators and health care assistants to help patients find the most appropriate care is growing.
“We’ll also see growth in patient safety roles,” said Schueler. “Staff will be expected to be performance improvement specialists. It’s not just about clinical licensing and certification anymore. It is about the process you go through to eliminate waste, create greater outcomes and improving patient care at a lesser cost.”
