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Experts say state health worker shortage is caused by lack of specialized training

Tracey Niimi
/
HPR

Hawaiʻi health system executives are seeking creative ways to recruit and retain qualified staff amid local and national workforce shortages.

Pacific Business New’s annual health care roundtable brought together five industry leaders, including Hilton Raethel, the president and CEO of Healthcare Association of Hawaiʻi.

His organization has updated its data on the state's health care worker shortage, quantifying which jobs have the greatest need and which are hardest to fill.

However, those aren’t necessarily the same challenges.

Hawaiʻi is short by nearly 1,000 nurses, but only by 30 ultrasound technologists. The latter job, however, is on average, actually harder to fill.

Raethel said one reason why some specialties are hard to come by is that Hawaiʻi lacks local training options.

If someone goes to the Mainland for ultrasound training, it can be hard to lure them back. They may have found a cheaper place to live and a competitive environment offering signing bonuses.

Health care executives have been working with local universities and even high schools to increase training opportunities.

Some are just trying to raise awareness of the full range of occupations within health care. HAH tracks more than 20 different specialties, ranging from physicians and registered nurses to phlebotomists and patient care representatives.

Hawaiʻi Pacific Health recently built an academic health center to show what these collaborations look like. The lab is located at Waipahu High School and provides hands-on training for students interested in health care.

A. Kam Napier is the editor-in-chief of Pacific Business News.
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