NHA's 2021 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.

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.

At its core, Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares students to enter the workforce job-ready in growing fields such as healthcare. The reality is that CTE goes far beyond this one goal, providing pathways for upward mobility into many professions that do not require a four-year college degree. Today, CTE health science programs exist across the U.S. in urban, rural and suburban settings, providing both high school students and adult learners with access to specialized technical training.

Empowering professionals through certification is at the heart of our mission, and we regularly conduct industry research to ensure the content and exams we provide to current and future certification holders are relevant and keep up with industry trends.

Recently, we looked at the current state of the EKG technician profession — and what's to come in the future. During this research, we surveyed and interviewed working EKG technicians across the country. Here's a what we learned.

The role of the pharmacy technician is evolving. What used to be a strictly clerical role with desk duties is shifting into areas of greater complexity that require more specialized training and skills.

We are passionate about keeping our materials and certifications relevant and meaningful to help empower allied health professionals to reach their career goals, and ultimately, help them provide better care. Before we made the recent updates to NHA's Certified Patient Care Technician/Assistant (CPCT/A) exam, we spoke to employers and current patient care technicians, and would like to share some of the information and insights we discovered. Knowledge is power, and we hope this information will help you — whether you have patient care technicians on your team or are helping guide future patient care technicians on their educational journey.

Allied health professionals, which make up more than 60% of the healthcare industry workforce, play a critical and often behind-the-scenes role in caring for patients and ensuring that the flow of patients operates efficiently within healthcare institutions. Our communities depend on well-trained allied health professionals to ensure timely, quality care for patients, but currently, most communities across the United States are experiencing a shortage in the workforce.

Contributors: Glenn Albright, Ph.D. and Ron Goldman

Can you imagine if healthcare professionals didn’t continue to educate themselves throughout their careers? Tenured individuals would be using dated, and potentially dangerous, methods. Just search the internet for “bizarre medical treatments in history,” and prepare to be amazed at what we once thought were legitimate health practices.