Healthcare Skills Training Gap in the US

 Between the nursing shortage and the strain that COVID placed on both the healthcare system and healthcare education system, we are now finding ourselves with a rather urgent matter in our hands. The nursing shortage prior to COVID was already a large strain on the healthcare system and then led to the boom of travel nursing. Fortunately, the financial gain that travel nursing offered, provided further incentive for individuals to begin their careers in nursing or continue their careers. But when COVID hit, this strain had both an impact on discouraging further nurses from continuing their careers and also had a large impact on the healthcare education system. During COVID, many schools had to resort to virtual learning, with many important aspects of in-person learning and clinical rotations being removed in some instances. This left many nurses feeling like they were quite “thrown to the wolves” even more so when beginning their first nursing jobs. With experienced nursing exiting bedside at rapid rates, and new nursing not receiving adequate training prior to beginning their careers, we are now beginning to see the impacts of this massive healthcare training gap. 

So how can we fix this? 

1. Improved Training Amongst Healthcare Systems - having more “new nurse” training programs included in hospitals or having larger education departments within hospital systems can help relieve this gap of training. But, this still requires having further education staffing, which can be difficult to obtain. 
2. Better Virtual Training Courses - providing professionals with more virtual training options so that they can train on their own time and at least ensure they have the information necessary to succeed. But of course, virtual may not always be the most ideal. In some instances, in-person training is crucial.
3. In-person training options - having access to in-person training via contractors can help alleviate the stress off of hospitals and healthcare professionals who may already have a heavy workload and then are expected to train a new staff member while continuing to do their job. Think of it as travel nursing but for educators!

This is where Leading Intravenous Education & Wellness was born. Our goal is to help alleviate this gap by providing both virtual and in-person training services. We currently provide an online Phlebotomy Skills 101 Training Course, Virtual Coaching and Consulting, and In-Person Training for healthcare professional skills such as Phlebotomy and IV Insertion. 

Many online courses or continuing education courses focus more so on the information or knowledge and less on the actual details of performing specific skills successfully. That is where Leading Intravenous Education & Wellness is different. Our focus is on all of the nitty gritty details that you need in order to become exceptional in these skills and physically succeed. 

We aim to help both new healthcare professionals develop a solid infrastructure for their skills, and experienced healthcare professionals improve their already developed skills. 

Check out our website at liveandwellness.com for more information!