About Health Skills Panels

Health skills panels have been convened by all twelve workforce development councils in Washington. To help strengthen Washington’s economy, the health skills panels work collaboratively with partners in their local areas. These partnerships bring together industry and education to identify the local area’s health workforce priorities, develop innovative solutions, and generate further resources to support implementation. Panels focus on expanding educational capacity and recruiting and retaining health care personnel. Projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

Create and expand health care programs

Initiate specialized training

Target diverse populations to prepare for and enter health careers

Coordinate clinical sites

Provide opportunities to advance incumbent workers to high-demand positions

Initiate marketing campaigns to raise awareness of opportunities in health care and improve the image of health professions

Assist with transitions for military personnel into the civilian health care workforce

Provide financial aid programs

Create summer camps and work-based learning for youth

Coordinate nursing retention strategies

Goal 5 of the Health Care Personnel Shortage Task Force plan for addressing the state’s health care personnel shortages in crisis or opportunity is to enable local communities to implement strategies to alleviate the health care personnel shortages in their areas. A priority strategy under this goal is to “provide continuing support to health skills panels,” and this is a priority for the task force in 2006.