The 2020 Industry Outlook shares the trends impacting some of the most in-demand allied health professions. In this year's research, NHA collected insights and data from employers of allied health professionals, digging deeper to understand what they seek in candidates, what these professionals’ daily work looks like, and what traits and skills make them most successful in their roles. Download a copy or read on to learn more about this report.

When improving health requires patients to change behavior, virtual humans help providers get results.

Contributors: Mark Beaufait, Toya Moore, Betsy Conrad

The problem: There are not enough certified medical assistants in the labor market.

Every 11 seconds, an older adult is admitted to the emergency room for a fall. Approximately 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 77% have at least two. Additionally, one in four experiences some form of a mental health condition, including depression and anxiety disorders, and dementia—a number expected to double by 2030.¹ As the United States’ aging population grows, increasing healthcare needs are creating more pressure on healthcare providers and their teams.

How Advanced Skills are Moving the Industry Forward

It’s no surprise that the dynamics of healthcare have shifted in recent years. Patient demand for convenient, cost-effective healthcare continues to increase. Large health systems and pharmacy organizations are increasingly looking for new ways to meet these needs, which has led to a rise in convenient care clinics and the popularity of telemedicine. Among this growing body of innovative healthcare delivery methods is the increased use of pharmacists in clinical, direct patient care roles in both inpatient and community pharmacy settings. This shift in the role of pharmacists has support from both governmental organizations and patients.^1-6

A surprising shift in career plans for a recent high school grad led to fulfilling work helping others.

Aimee Capps’ journey as a pharmacy technician has given her career opportunities she didn’t realize were possible. When Capps was first approached about a part-time opening as a pharmacy technician with her employer, a retail pharmacy, she was a full-time bookkeeper and spent her days in a back office. With a little encouragement, she applied and started working in the pharmacy a couple of days each week, still bookkeeping on weekends. It didn’t take long before Capps says she was “hooked.” She loved helping people and seeing how much of a difference medication could make.

Struggling to Help Stressed Allied Health Students Succeed Academically? Make Time for Mental Health.

The 2020 Spring semester has been a time of unprecedented stress for allied health professionals, students, and instructors. An April 2020 survey conducted by Inside Higher Ed in partnership with Hanover Research demonstrated that about 91% of leaders in higher education are worried about the mental and physical health of their students.

Many allied health students are adjusting to remote learning environments as America works to slow the spread of the coronavirus. They are also preparing to enter a field of work that is highly respected, highly needed, and suddenly more dangerous. It's a lot to process, and addressing these students' mental health needs is urgent.

In recent weeks, many educators across America have shifted to online learning. The team at NHA believes that our community will be stronger by learning from other another, and that's why we launched the Community Connect Forum, a webinar series for educators that involves polling, chat features and interactive conversation to help us gather the most impactful insights.

The 2020 and future allied health program graduates—medical assistants, phlebotomy technicians, patient care technicians, and others—find themselves in an unfathomable position as they prepare to enter the healthcare workforce during the COVID-19 crisis.

Since its inception, online learning—also known as “distance learning” or “eLearning”—has steadily grown in popularity, and before COVID-19 shifted most classrooms online, one out of every three learners were participating in at least one online course. Many learners have appreciated their convenience: a computer or smartphone is all learners need to get started.