The workforce is key to healthcare transformation, and to effectively meet transformation goals the healthcare industry needs early signals of changes in the occupations, skills, and roles required by evolving healthcare systems.
The Health Workforce Sentinel Network supports efficient and effective health workforce preparation and deployment by:
- identifying emerging signals of changes in health workforce demand, and
- rapidly disseminating this information to education, training and policy partners who can take action based on findings.
Health workforce Sentinels:
- help ensure the state’s health workforce is prepared to respond to the transforming health care environment,
- have access to current and actionable information about emerging workforce needs, and can
- compare their organization’s experiences and emerging workforce demand trends with similar employer groups.
Information provided by health workforce Sentinels are kept confidential and are reported in aggregate form, grouped with data from other similar organizations.
The Sentinel Network began as an initiative of Washington State’s Health Workforce Council, conducted collaboratively by Washington’s Workforce Board and the University of Washington’s Center for Health Workforce Studies. Funding to initiate the Sentinel Network in Washington State came from the Healthier Washington initiative in 2016, with ongoing support from Governor Inslee’s office and then the Washington State Legislature.
In Connecticut, the Health Workforce Sentinel Network was launched in Spring, 2019, with funding and direction by the Connecticut League for Nursing and a variety of partners.