California Community Colleges Fall Short in Allied Health Professions
Community colleges in the Central Valley region had about 374 students complete programs for allied health professionals in 2005 at a time when there are more than 2,800 job openings in those fields annually, the Modesto Bee reports.
A report released last week by the Center of Excellence at Modesto Junior College said that community colleges in the Central Valley region are not meeting demand for allied health professionals, a job category that includes about 48 jobs. Positions that fall under that category include emergency medical technicians; respiratory therapists; home health aides; and pharmacy, radiology and surgical technicians.
Licensed nursing and dental positions were not considered in the report.
It is expected that there will be about 12,000 new allied health jobs in the Central Valley by 2014, in addition to 17,000 openings in current positions from retirement or attrition.
In addition, the report found that employers would rather have employees trained by community college graduates than by private, for-profit schools, maintaining that community college-trained workers require less on-the-job training.
The report was created for 14 community colleges in the Central Valley region to help community college leaders develop their programs (Salerno, Modesto Bee, 3/18).