Having enough well-trained staff members in a healthcare organization improves safety, patient satisfaction, and employee retention, and decreases costs. An experienced team can identify potential problems while increasing productivity and ensuring that patients get exactly what they need.
Unfortunately, in hospitals, care facilities, operating rooms, and doctors’ offices around the country, leaders are struggling to find and retain enough skilled healthcare workers.
With over 129 million United States citizens needing treatment for at least one chronic disease, and even more having acute problems, it is clear that healthcare jobs will remain one of the most in-demand careers throughout the next decade.
Healthcare facilities must find creative solutions to ensure that they have enough staff members to keep their patients safe and offices running. Healthcare apprenticeships are emerging as one of the best solutions to address this shortage.
The Growing Need for Skilled Healthcare Workers
A 2022 poll of medical practices found that 44% of offices were experiencing difficulties with recruiting medical assistants, and the BLS expects to see 104,400 openings for medical assistants each year for the next decade.
In addition to a growing need for healthcare workers and difficulty with recruitment, about 25% of healthcare workers say that they plan to leave the profession within the next two years.
Also, studies have found that many people who are interested in starting a healthcare career believe that the barrier to entry is too high. Taking a year off of work to complete training is simply out of the question for most Americans.
In addition, high-stress levels, too few staff members, and increasing workloads drive many healthcare employees to fatigue and burnout, making retention of trained staff even more difficult.
How Healthcare Apprenticeships Help
Healthcare apprenticeships give people an opportunity to receive high-quality, on-the-job training while contributing to the healthcare team. Organizations that offer apprenticeship programs attract motivated candidates and have been shown to have better retention of trained employees.
Apprenticeship programs are different than traditional education pathways because they allow the student to earn a living while receiving on-the-job training. Organizations typically pay a lower wage to their apprentices and increase pay when the student completes their training.
An apprentice is usually paired with a mentor who teaches them the basics of the job, guides them through potential problems, and evaluates their work. Most apprenticeships also include some didactic learning in the form of books, online instruction, or even classroom time in the workplace.
Apprenticeships benefit both the employer and the employee in the following ways:
1) Apprentices earn while they learn
Being able to earn a living while training for a new job lowers the barrier of entry for working adults. Paying workers to train for a job not only gives people an opportunity to start a new career but also builds trust and loyalty between the apprentice and the employer.
2) Apprentices gain valuable hands-on experience
Hands-on experience and on-the-job training boost productivity, increase engagement and allow employers to focus on more job-specific skills. Students who get more hands-on experience typically learn faster and have better retention of skills and knowledge than those who learn in the classroom only.
3) Apprentices can earn national certifications
Offering help with certifications can attract job candidates who are motivated to pursue a long-term career in healthcare rather than a short-term job.
Studying for a certification exam ensures that healthcare providers have the knowledge they need to work at the top of their scope of practice and take great care of patients.
4) Employers benefit from improved retention
During an apprenticeship, employees are not only learning about their trade, they are learning the specifics of the organization and building relationships with their coworkers.
Employees who complete an apprenticeship often feel loyalty to their team and are less likely to seek employment elsewhere after their training is completed. Many employers require a one-to two-year time commitment for employees who complete an apprenticeship.
Interestingly, mentors of apprentices are twice as likely to remain in their position than those who are not placed in a mentorship or training role, meaning that organizations that implement apprenticeship programs are more likely to retain experienced staff, in addition to their newer hires.
5) Employers have more work-ready employees
A traditional educational pathway requires students to complete a year or two of classroom work with some clinical or externship hours. Then, they usually have several weeks of orientation at their workplace before they are ready to tackle their responsibilities independently.
Apprenticeships streamline this process and allow new workers to integrate more quickly into the organization. Apprentices often become helpful to the team after just a few shifts with their assigned mentor.
Case Studies: Success Stories in Healthcare Apprenticeships
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente, one of the leaders in the healthcare industry, has introduced a medical assisting apprenticeship program in partnership with Clover Park Technical College.
Their program is currently being implemented in their Washington facilities in 15 primary care clinics, East King, Kitsap, Olympia, Seattle, Snohomish, South King, and Tahoma. In the future, there are plans to widen their scope to the 7 other states with Keiser Permanente facilities.
The Kaiser program includes 2,000 hours of on-the-job training and 288 hours of classroom instruction to be completed over a 12-to-24-month time period. Students are paid for their hours of hands-on training as well as their classroom hours.
Homework will be assigned and is to be completed on the student’s own time. Before beginning the program, students must be 18 years of age or older, have a high school diploma, and either complete College Math 087/091 and English 098 or score the equivalent on a placement exam.
The apprenticeship program is a full-time, 40 hours per week program. This includes classroom and in-person working hours.
Students are guaranteed a medical assisting job when they complete the apprenticeship program. In addition, students who complete their apprenticeship will be prepared to pass their exam and receive their CCMA certificate from the NHA.
Most students complete the program in 12 to 15 months, and Keiser boasts an 80% retention rate.
CHAS Health
CHAS Health offers an apprenticeship program for medical assistants in Washington and places their students in urgent care, primary care, womens health, pediatric, and behavioral health clinics.
The fully-paid apprenticeship program at CHAS Health includes 2,000 hours of on-the-job training in 12 months. Apprentices will also be required to complete approximately 15 hours of at-home study each week.
Students are required to pass the CCMA exam upon program completion in order to receive a full job offer. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and pass a Washington State background check.
They also offer apprenticeship programs for dental assistants and pharmacy technicians.
Medical assistants who complete the apprenticeship program at CHAS are guaranteed a job after passing their CCMA exam. Wages are increased when an assistant has completed 50% of their apprenticeship, and again when they pass their certification exam.
Barriers to Entry and How Apprenticeships Address Them
Common Barriers
The most common barrier to entry for trained healthcare professionals is financial difficulty. Training programs are not only expensive, it is difficult for most people to maintain full-time employment while working towards their degree or certification.
This inability to work during school exacerbates the financial problems of those trying to advance their careers.
Evening training programs attempt to improve the work/school balance, but neglect to address the issue of finding a caregiver for those with young children at home.
Online programs make it easier for caregivers to work and complete their education, but it can be difficult for some of these programs to find clinical opportunities for their students.
Solutions
Apprenticeships solve most of these problems by combining learning and working hours. By paying students for the majority of their hours spent learning, organizations eliminate the problem of finding a balance between working and attending school full-time.
In addition, apprenticeship programs typically partner with schools, ensuring that work schedules never clash with classroom learning. While homework is generally required for apprenticeship programs, the workloads are much more manageable.
The Role of Employers and Educators
Employers
An apprenticeship program can only thrive when the employer creates a well-structured training plan for their new employees. Mentors should be well-trained and understand the specific learning outcomes of the program.
Having a skills checklist and teaching outline for mentors and apprentices is essential. In addition, employers should work with accreditation agencies to build high-quality programs and ensure that students will be eligible and prepared to take their certification exams.
Educational Partnerships
Working with educational institutions is a great way to ensure that an apprenticeship program will produce great employees with a solid base of knowledge.
Educational institutions with a track record of student success can help employers create teaching plans and learning outcomes that ensure each student's success.
Future of Healthcare Apprenticeships
It seems that employers across all industries are turning to apprenticeship programs to strengthen their workforce.
Over the last decade, apprenticeship program enrollment has grown by 64%. The growth is even larger within the healthcare industry, which had a 169% increase in apprentices between 2019 and 2024. In 2023, there were 24,492 registered apprentices in healthcare.
Government agencies recognize the need for a change in the structure of healthcare education and training. Because of this, several policies have been developed to support apprenticeship programs throughout the healthcare industry.
For example, Apprenticeship USA has developed competency-based occupational frameworks (CBOFs), for healthcare workers that help employees build apprenticeship programs that produce safe and competent healthcare workers.
The United States Department of Labor has also introduced the concept of Registered Apprenticeship programs to accelerate the training of new healthcare staff.
