HEALTH CARE
“ More of our students are what we call adult learners ( rather ) than kids fresh out of high school ,” says Burke Malin , chief operating officer of the San Mateo-based Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts , which offers programs in nursing , imaging and other health-related services at its six campuses in Concord , Fresno , Los Angeles , Modesto , Sacramento , and San Mateo , and online . It currently has about 2,500 students .
“ Some younger people enroll in our schools after being out of high school for about a year and coming to the realization that they want to get a serious job ,” Malin says . “ Meanwhile , our adult learners are people who know a little more about the world and a little more about what it means to be a college student . They ’ re saying , in essence , ‘ I ’ ve lived a real life . I don ’ t want to spend the next part of it working at a Starbucks .’”
Malin says his academy ’ s statistics on the future of health care jobs are “ very positive , but as far as immediate numbers , that ’ s difficult to assess , since in our enrollment cycle , we start engaging with potential students at least five months before they actually begin classes . They hear about us , and they make inquiries . So while we saw a period of some dormancy during the first six months of this year , that ’ s now changing for the better .”
One edge that Gurnick Academy students gain is by going for a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing , an important prelicensure add-on to their resume , since those make them more attractive to Magnet hospitals . The Magnet Recognition Program , created by the American Nurses Credentialing Center , designates hospitals that “ attract and retain well-qualified nurses who promote quality patient , resident and client care .” There are 561 Magnet facilities , UC Davis Medical Center being one of them .
“ We ’ ve seen an uptick , yes , but in my opinion and the opinion of my peers , most of the hiring is due to the vaccine rollout .”
KIM DUKES Vice president , Robert Half
An evolving situation
The region is also now beginning to see an increase in executive health care jobs , says Diane Miller , whose firm , Wilcox Miller & Nelson , is a Sacramento-based executive search company — meaning , its five full-time employees and army of consulting experts work for employers looking for top talent , not employees hoping to win placements .
“ Jobs for ( chief information officers ) have been hot for a long , long time because Sacramento has been a leader in the telehealth field ,” Miller says . “ But I saw during the pandemic very qualified executives kind of hunkered down , keeping as close to the grindstone as they could . Many decided to stay in their current positions because they felt safer there . They were also beginning to enjoy working at home .”
Kuar says Pacific Staffing , which has recently added two health care recruiters , encountered a similar hesitancy when a top candidate for a hospital CFO position ultimately decided to stay put in her lower-paying , albeit still C-suite level job , and newly created home office . “ She said she wanted to be close to her kids during the crisis . I certainly couldn ’ t blame her .”
The overall situation has left jobs open for clinical operations managers , billing managers , “ accounting , finance and human resources people , and specialist project managers .” Of the latter , “ Some had been clinicians themselves and knew what medical practitioners needed to know and how to provide the information , she says . “ And when Sutter Health began automating all of its own records , people who ’ d been on the medical side themselves were seen as great resources . Changing jobs from being a frontline worker to a behind-thescenes one ended up saving a lot of jobs .”
And , possibly , the evidence suggests , saving lives . Kaiser Health News reports that “ at least 2,900 health workers died since the pandemic began . Many were minorities with the highest levels of patient contact .”
Marshall ’ s CEO Nelson says as society starts to come out of the pandemic and return to normal life , she wants to encourage people to focus on their health , for their own benefit and the benefit of the region ’ s medical systems that are eager and ready to keep serving patients . “ My concern is that people may still be fearful or haven ’ t made connecting with their health care provider a priority ,” she says . “ If I could send a message out , I would tell people not to wait on their health care . … Don ’ t let COVID-19 keep you from addressing other health issues . It ’ s just not worth it .”
Ed Goldman writes a thrice-weekly column , The Goldman State , for his website goldmanstate . com .
46 comstocksmag . com | June 2021