Let's Talk About Tomorrow's Workforce 
It’s a simple formula of supply and demand:
- The demand for healthcare services is rapidly rising as our population grows and ages.
- The supply of available doctors, nurses and dentists is dropping.
- The result will be rising costs, limited service and greater risk.
It’s a nationwide trend: Our population is aging and needing more healthcare services, while dedicated healthcare professionals are growing older and moving or retiring. Yet the number of graduates from healthcare schools has remained about the same year after year.
The result is a problem facing all of Oregon—if we fail to act. Between January 2005 and December 2006, Oregon will train 200 new physicians to replace 1,250 who are leaving the workforce. Projections show that during the next five years shortages will be experienced statewide, resulting in increasing costs, longer wait times, and worse.
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What OHSU is doing . . .  OHSU is Oregon’s only health and research university. It has some of the highest ranked health education programs in the nation, yet it receives some of the lowest state support in the nation.
To meet the challenges of the future requires increased state funding and new models of delivery. OHSU has already begun an earnest effort to prepare by building cooperative partnerships and increasing community-training facilities throughout the state. A few examples include:
Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) – The OHSU School of Nursing joined Oregon’s community colleges and universities to start this program to help future nursing students train and work locally throughout Oregon. The resulting integrated education system is more efficient for both students and programs, and will increase the capacity to produce a diverse, professional nursing workforce statewide.
Oregon Medicine (ORMED) Collaborative – OHSU is partnering with community health systems, physician practices and other universities (UO, OSU) to increase the number of medical students entering medical school each year to 160 by 2010, with increased opportunities for Oregonians statewide to become physicians.
Oregon Rural Scholars Program – This program will work to lower the barriers to recruit medical school applicants with a preference for rural practice. The Area Health Education Centers will assist with statewide programs and the opportunities for K-12 students entering health and science professions.
School of Dentistry – OHSU is expanding its community-based partnership so that students will be training in private dental practices across the state, and plans to develop a general practice residency with a site at OHSU and at least one outside the Metro area. |
What you can do . . .
OHSU is working hard to be ready for the future. But it will take more than OHSU to ensure the problem is solved. A real solution requires state and local governments’ support, cooperation among academic institutions, and the focus and assistance from people like you..
 Let us know your ideas. Let’s talk. | |
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