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Jim Bentley, PhD; Darrell Kirch, MD; Elizabeth Duke, PhD, and Kristine Sande, MBA, at the HWIC press conference in
Washington, D.C.
“Connecting the nation to health
workforce information now starts in
North Dakota - at UND’s doorstep.
This initiative provides information
that will be used to make wellinformed
decisions – whether in
hospitals, universities or at our
nation’s Capitol,” said Sande, HWIC
director.
“Sharing information ranging from
cutting-edge training initiatives to state
policy strategies at one central
location, HWIC is an efficient way for
individuals to obtain timely and relevant
workforce information,” she continued.
Ready to roll
Thousands of hours of work,
fueled by more caffeine than anyone
dares admit, came to a head on
February 5, 2009 when the new
HWIC website debuted to a national
audience of more than 75 reporters,
organizational leaders, decisionmakers
and workforce specialists at
the historic National Press Club in
Washington, D.C.
Representatives from influential
organizations such as the American
Association of Family Practitioners
and the National Association of
Community Health Centers lauded
HWIC’s time-savings benefit, provided
by locating workforce-related
information in one location.
“As our nation grows and
changes, we face serious challenges to
provide timely, effective and efficient
care to people,” said Jim Bentley,
PhD, senior vice president for
strategic policy planning at the
American Hospital Association.
“Whether market-based solutions or
workforce planning, we need to have
one set of accessible, shared facts that
we can all work from.”
Others talked hopefully about the
collaboration that may occur, as users
learn of model programs and connect
with experts.
“This is just the beginning of us
working together as a comprehensive
system,” said Darrell Kirch, MD,
president and chief executive officer
of the Association of American
Medical Colleges. “So while this is a
critically important tool, at the end of
the day, every one of us is going to be
in that bed someday and we’re going
to want to know that there is a doctor,
a nurse or a pharmacist in the house
when we need one.”
Just getting started
The HWIC traveling team sat
reflectively at Reagan National Airport
in Washington, D.C., waiting to board
a flight back to North Dakota.
Physically and mentally drained by
the intensity of HWIC’s launch, they
basked for just a moment in the wake
of completing a successful and
significant milestone in the project’s
short history. But the moment didn’t
last long. Anxious to learn how the
first thousands of visitors were using
the new resource, members pondered
aloud how to refine the project even
further. Back in North Dakota, the e-
mails and phone calls poured in from
curious and anticipating people across
the country, getting right down to the
business of searching for long-awaited
health workforce information.
And so it began, the connection
of people and information, in a big
step toward improving the nation’s
health workforce system.
- Wendy Opsahl and
Amanda Scurry
12 NORTH DAKOTA MEDICINE Spring 2009