The Penn Foster Blog

As veterinary clinics continue to juggle an influx of new pet owners and increasing wellness checks from current owners, all while navigating updated covid-19 restrictions, credentialed vet techs have become more essential than ever. While the hard work of dedicated technicians has been celebrated each year during Veterinary Technician Week this year’s celebration is a special one. As essential workers, veterinary technicians have been on the front lines during the pandemic, ensuring the wellness of clients’ family pets. Rounding out a week of webinars, celebration, and awareness of what it takes to be a veterinary technician, Banfield Pet Hospital President, Brian Garish, took time to chat with Keyana Beamon, a Banfield employee and Penn Foster 2020 Graduate of the Year.

At a time when healthcare is on everyone’s mind, staffing continues to be a challenge for many facilities, especially hospitals and clinics in rural areas. Unfortunately, many rural hospitals struggled to meet staffing targets even before COVID-19 began to strain the entire U.S. healthcare system. Addressing that challenge is no simple task but offering training and workforce development opportunities to displaced and incumbent support staff can be a strong start.

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and caused the US unemployment rate to spike to levels even higher than those seen during the Great Recession, Dr. Robert Jordan knew his nonprofit organization, Constituent Services Worldwide (CSW), was uniquely positioned to help the Greater Washington, D.C. area in this time of need. Formed after Dr. Jordan’s two-term administration as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner ended in 2011, CSW is a “multi-faceted Public Benefit Corporation designed to be a catalyst for government initiatives and resource for private sector clients.”

Patient-centered care has been a buzzword for years. It’s so commonly used that it’s hard to tell what the phrase means anymore. Yet, true patient-centered care is more important than ever. As patient preferences change and the healthcare industry grows, providers must meet a whole new standard of care.

New urgent care centers are popping up all over the United States. These walk-in clinics provide convenient care for millions of patients every year. To keep wait times low and maximize efficiency, urgent care centers rely heavily on medical assistants and employees in health administrative roles. Find the right employees for your clinic by seeking and training ambitious healthcare support staff.

Telemedicine isn’t a new concept in the healthcare industry, though until recently, in-person visits were the standard method of connecting with a provider. But since the start of the pandemic, telehealth has experienced a surge as patients and providers seek a socially distant option for appointments. For busy veterinary practices, offering this service in place of wellness visits can allow veterinarians and veterinary technicians to effectively see and treat more clients, potentially increasing revenue and allowing the practice to thrive throughout and after the pandemic.

Despite the pandemic, the veterinary healthcare industry has been overwhelmed with patients and appointments. While other sectors, from healthcare to manufacturing, have been forced to furlough workers veterinary practices have had to hire more team members to meet their clients’ needs. With a deficit of trained, skilled veterinary assistants, practices are feeling the strain of increased appointments and teams are stretched thin attempting to keep up.

As the pandemic continues to change the healthcare landscape, frontline workers are more heavily relied-on than ever before. For retail pharmacies facing increased workloads due to a growth in demand for prescription drugs, in addition to taking on more direct-care work before and during the spread of COVID-19, the need for skilled pharmacy technicians is great. But finding the right applicants to fill open positions isn’t always easy. In order to minimize the cost of constant turnover by increasing employee retention, a focus on training and certifying pharmacy technicians is a must.

For over 125 years, Penn Foster has taught working learners and partnered with skilled trades organizations to help tens of thousands of students gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to succeed on their career paths. Part of this Penn Foster mission is to provide comprehensive courses, applicable technology, and a wide array of flexible services aimed at the needs of the working learner- which anymore, should include an emphasis on interactivity.

With all the buzz over telemedicine and instant healthcare, you might think that millenials are looking for convenience above all else. It’s a reasonable assumption. It’s also not true. When making healthcare decisions, millenials want a provider who really cares about them. In short, millennials are looking for good customer service from healthcare providers. To meet the needs of this generation, you must train support staff to make customer service their focus.