Engaging the Health Care Workforce
The restructuring of the health care industry and ongoing efforts to improve quality are changing how the work of health care is organized. Many health care workers are taking on new roles and responsibilities. Some are excited by these changes and the new opportunities they create. Others are unsure about whether their training has adequately prepared them for the dramatic changes that are taking place. While understanding the need for change, many of these workers are asking for more of a voice in the process of change.

The challenge for industry leaders is to harness the tremendous talent, energy and commitment of the ten million people who have been drawn to work in the health care industry because of its strong sense of mission. In order to improve the quality of health care, they must build a health care workforce that is strongly dedicated to caring for patients, knowledgeable and well trained, committed to continuous quality improvement and cooperative work, secure in their employability, confident in the safety of their work, fairly compensated, and competent in caring for the wide diversity of the American people.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The training of physicians, nurses, and other health care workers must change to meet the demands of a changing health care industry. Education and training of health workers should provide those individuals with greater experience in working in interdisciplinary teams, the provision of care in nonhospital settings, the effective use of clinical information to promote evidence-based practice, the measurement and improvement of quality and satisfaction, the conducting of small-scale experiments of new ideas, and the reporting and reduction of error.

Minimum standards for education, training, and supervision of unlicensed paraprofessionals should be established. Current oversight of