In the next 5–10 years, health care systems will face critical staffing shortages. HSOs are struggling to recruit and retain qualified health care providers and nurses.

In 2020 the challenges escalated. Providers are increasingly using various types of extenders and assistants. Look for data from the last year on your state’s department of health care. For example, if you live in Minnesota, complete a search for “Minnesota Department of Health Care.” Conduct a second search for the city or town you live in; larger cities may provide this information. Human resource management is critical and is being impacted by environmental forces.

Please respond to the following: 

• Are the health care staffing trends/shortages in the market where you live consistent with national trends? 
• Identify the environmental forces that are impacting human resource management where you live. (Table 12.1, Chapter 12, p. 289, Introduction to Health Care Management.)
• Provide suggestions for how the environmental forces that you have identified in your location might be addressed through human resource management.