The United States faces a significantly aging population as well as a growing share of the population that is living longer with multiple chronic conditions. To provide high-quality care to people of all ages living with serious illness, it is critical that the nation develop an adequately trained and prepared workforce consisting of a range of professionals, including physicians, nurses, social workers, direct care workers, and chaplains. To explore some of the key workforce-related challenges to meeting the needs of people with serious illness, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a workshop on November 7, 2019. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

There are significant challenges facing the workforce needed to provide high-quality care to increasing numbers of people living with serious illness. The National Academies Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness hosted a hybrid public workshop in April 2023 to explore strategies and approaches to address major workforce challenges, such as health professional well-being; workforce shortages; workforce training and retention; as well as how to advance the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the workforce caring for people of all ages and all stages of serious illness. This workshop builds on the 2019 Roundtable workshop Building the Workforce We Need to Care for People with Serious Illness.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing weaknesses in the United States health care system, while creating a new set of challenges related to caring for people with serious illness. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness hosted a three-part workshop to explore the initial responses to the pandemic by health care teams providing care to people with serious illness, the impact of the pandemic on the health care workforce, the use of telehealth, issues related to clearly communicating with the public about health emergencies, and policy opportunities to improve care for people with serious illness. Issues related to health equity were discussed throughout the three webinars.

A growing body of research indicates that social determinants of health have a significant impact on health care utilization and outcomes. Researchers and policymakers in the United States have spent decades exploring and discussing approaches to integrating health care and social services. While no nation has a truly integrated system, many other industrialized nations invest more heavily in social services than the United States, and are more effective in integrating these services with health care. Integrating health care and social services, such as accessible housing, meals and nutrition services, transportation, and caregiver training, is particularly important for those facing serious illness who typically encounter multiple chronic conditions, pain and other symptoms, functional dependency, frailty, and significant family caregiver needs. In an effort to better understand and facilitate discussions about the challenges and opportunities related to integrating health care and social services for people with serious illness, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a full-day public workshop on July 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. The workshop featured a broad range of experts and stakeholders including researchers, policy analysts, patient and family caregiving advocates, and representatives of federal agencies. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Millions of peopleâ€"infants, children, adults, and their familiesâ€"are currently coping with serious illness in the United States. Efforts are intensifying to improve overall care quality through the delivery of person-centered and family-oriented services, for patients of all ages and across disease stages, care settings, and specialties. While aging Baby Boomers are increasing the proportion of patients in the Medicare population over time, the sickest and most vulnerable patients needing health system support and other services to meet their complex needs can be found across the age spectrum and in a broad range of care settings, from perinatal care to geriatric care. Recognizing the need to thoughtfully consider and address the challenges and opportunities in efforts to improve care quality and value, the Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held the public workshop Integrating the Patient and Caregiver Voice into Serious Illness Care, on December 15, 2016, in Washington, DC. This workshop was the first in a series planned by the roundtable, and was designed specifically to bring together diverse personal perspectives and experiences about priorities and values that are important to patients and families coping with serious illness, and to consider solutions that support integration of these priorities and values in practice. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Millions of Americans of all ages face the challenge of living with serious illnesses such as advanced cancer, heart, or lung disease. Many people with serious illness are increasingly cared for in community settings. While the number of community-based programs to provide care for those with serious illness has grown significantly, the quality of care provided is not consistent across geographic locations or care settings. Care for the serious illness population often features gaps in coordination across sites of care and poor patient and family perceptions as to the quality of care provided. In an effort to better understand and facilitate discussions about the challenges and opportunities related to identifying and implementing quality measures for accountability purposes in community-based serious illness care, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a public workshop on April 17, 2018, in Washington, DC. Workshop participants explored the current state of quality measurement for people with serious illness, their families, and caregivers, with the aim of identifying next steps toward effectively implementing measures to drive improvement in the quality of community-based care for those facing serious illness. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The Future of the Nursing Workforce in the United States: Data, Trends and Implications provides a timely, comprehensive, and integrated body of data supported by rich discussion of the forces shaping the nursing workforce in the US. Using plain, jargon free language, the book identifies and describes the key changes in the current nursing workforce and provide insights about what is likely to develop in the future. The Future of the Nursing Workforce offers an in-depth discussion of specific policy options to help employers, educators, and policymakers design and implement actions aimed at strengthening the current and future RN workforce. The only book of its kind, this renowned author team presents extensive data, exhibits and tables on the nurse labor market, how the composition of the workforce is evolving, changes occurring in the work environment where nurses practice their profession, and on the publics opinion of the nursing profession.