Workforce Development
The Iowa/Nebraska Primary Care Association is dedicated to assist health centers coordinating workforce development activities by not duplicating but supporting existing state and federal resources and programs. The Board of Directors Workforce Development Committee of the Board of Directors advises IA/NEPCA staff on workforce programs and projects.
The role of the Association is to develop and oversee workforce development initiatives to increase the effectiveness of workforce recruitment and retention programs for the membership. IA/NEPCA places a high priority on assisting members in recruiting and retaining high quality qualified health care providers to serve the needs of the medically vulnerable populations they serve.
Current workforce development activities include:
The orientation toolkit is the product of a year-long committee effort of developing various training modalities to assist and enhance the community health centers’ efforts in offering consistent and comprehensive orientation materials for new staff. The toolkit consists of 16 independent training sessions covering all facets of community health center programming and services. The modules range from Community Health Center 101 to Cultural Diversity, including separate trainings for Vietnamese and Hispanic cultures.
The toolkit is designed to serve as an orientation and education resource that may be used when managers and supervisors are working with new staff and also when new staff is working independently on their own. The purpose of the toolkit is to expand an employee’s knowledge base and also strengthen awareness of community health centers and the patients they serve in this dynamic and challenging field.
CHC Management Competency Model
IA/NEPCA developed a competency model for the managers/supervisors of community health centers. The competency model consists of 141 competency statements and is organized into sixteen domains (groupings by topic). The competency model is located online in the Prepare Iowa Learning Management System www.prepareiowa.com. This model is available for all experienced or new management/supervisory staff employed in CHC’s to use by completing an online skills survey (personal assessment) of their level of competence for each of the statements.
The aggregate information collected from the competency model will help guide IA/NEPCA in determining future training needs/gaps and also provide valuable information about the current status and areas of strength. Assessment data is also useful for each participant so that they are aware of their level of competence and can make more informed decisions about the selection of personal learning opportunities to advance and enhance their skills, knowledge and abilities.
Training and Education
IA/NEPCA develops seminars, workshops, webinars and an annual conferences designed to provide useful and timely information of topics of interest to administrative, clinical and support staff of our member organizations.
Biannual Compensation and Benefits Survey
On a biennial basis IA/NEPCA publishes a comprehensive compensation and benefits report on community health centers in the bi-state.
The Recruitment Center
IA/NEPCA maintains job listings for our members on our website and also makes connections for clinicians interested in opportunities at community health centers. For more information visit The Recruitment Center page.
Orientation Handbook
An orientation handbook published by IA/NEPCA is available for new community health center senior staff.
The IA/NEPCA workforce development team consists of Julie Blum and Mary Klein. For more information call 515.244.9610.