Closing the Gender Pay Gap for Female Nurses Promotes Equity and Supports the Health Care Workforce

By Ulrike Muench, RN, PhD, FAAN, Faculty, Healthforce Center at UCSF

 

Patterns of pay disparities based on gender continue to be a high-priority concern for the health care workforce. Recent legislation and policies at all levels of government have been passed with the goal to end gender inequity in pay, recognizing the right to equal pay for doing equal work or work of the same value.

A Policy Perspective: How NPs Expand Healthcare Access to Rural Areas

Interview with Joanne Spetz by Matt Zbrog. Reprinted with permission from Sechel Ventures.

Approximately 46 million Americans live in rural areas, nearly 15% of the nation’s population. Those rural residents tend to be older and sicker than residents of urban areas, with higher rates of cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity. A lack of reliable health care access exacerbates the problem further.

Announcing Our New Initiative to Strengthen California’s Health Workforce

By Director Sunita Mutha, MD, FACP, and Associate Director of Research Elizabeth Mertz, PhD

 

“We envision a collective effort that prioritizes systems and policy changes to advance the diversity and skills of workers to produce better economic opportunity and, ultimately, better health for communities of color.”

 

PHOTO

Rural America Faces Major Shortage of Personal Care Aides

­­
New research selected by Health Affairs’ Editor in Chief as work that moves the field forward and needs more attention

Personal care aides (PCAs) play a vital role in ensuring that people with disabilities and older adults remain in their homes and communities, but according to recent research by Healthforce Center’s Susan A. Chapman, Laura Wagner, and Timothy Bates, in partnership with Rayna Sage and colleagues at the University of Montana, there is a shortage of these workers throughout the United States, particularly in rural areas.