Web-based tool seeks to fill health care workforce gaps

When the pandemic hit the United States last year, researchers saw an immediate need to increase the capacity of qualified health care providers to address the spreading coronavirus. Janette Hill, co-principal investigator and a professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education's department of career and information studies, helped to create C2-Health, a National Science Foundation RAPID grant-funded project.

By creating a web-based tool that individuals and employers can use to explore health care-related competency frameworks, self-identify skill gaps and find credentials and training, this project aims to serve the national need of increasing the capacity to have more qualified health care providers to address the challenges of COVID-19. This tool will help individuals identify health care areas where they have adjacent skill sets and will also help companies identify employees who are candidates for upskilling into health care. After individual skills are inventoried, the tool will help users identify where they can obtain the requisite health care skills and credentials.

"The idea was to get as much done as we could in six months to develop this tool," Hill said. "C2-Health is specifically geared toward helping people find jobs related to COVID-19."

Hill, working with Robby Robson, principal investigator and CEO of Eduworks Corporation; Myk Garn, co-principal investigator and assistant vice chancellor for new learning models in the University System of Georgia, and a robust research team, developed and deployed the web-based tool. The tool will be usable on desktop and mobile devices which broadens the reach of the project. "The goal of the tool is to offer immediate jobs and training opportunities," Hill said.

Currently, C2-Health has identified four jobs that are needed most right now. The team plans to continue to refine the current system and expand with additional jobs and trainings by the end of the year. "We will continue to populate more potential jobs to help with combating COVID-19," Hill said.