Core Competencies for Today’s Healthcare Workforce

Core Competencies

This foundational NYACH work represents years of partner collaboration to review relevant literature, understand the on-the-ground impacts of new models of care, and to articulate these insights in educational resources for workforce development professionals to use as they create programming.

The goal: to identify skills and competencies that all health professionals need to deliver patient-centered, coordinated care, creating standards and a common language for stakeholders across the sector, including educators, employers, philanthropy, and government. The Core Competencies for Today’s Healthcare Workforce were one of the earliest NYACH work products, first released in 2016, and have since been used in numerous local workforce development efforts.

NYACH continues to update learning objectives and materials alongside our partners to ensure the Core Competencies stay current to the needs of New York City employers, including updates to reflect the sudden, expanded demand for telehealth competencies and other skills brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. These competencies are foundational to industry-based workforce transformation and to the ongoing employability of trained workers who sustain our healthcare system.

Download the NYACH Core Competencies for Today’s Healthcare Workforce.

Each of the Core Competencies is organized as a module that includes two to four learning objectives, which are ultimately tailored and customized based on the focus of a education or training program:

    • Overview of the US healthcare system

    • Introduction to care coordination

    • New models of care

    • Working on interdisciplinary teams

    • Building positive relationships on a team

    • Communication with team members

    • Participating in team huddles

    • Dealing with team conflict

    • Basic technology skills and the electronic health record

    • Documentation

    • Confidentiality and guidelines

    • Overview of chronic disease and comorbidities

    • Social determinants of health

    • Self-management

    • Recognizing patients’ families’ cultural needs/factors that may affect their choices or engagement

    • Communicating with patients and families in a culturally competent manner

    • Ethical and responsible decision-making

    • Professional boundaries

    • The quality improvement process

    • Quality improvement methods and processes

    • Connecting patients and families to community resources

    • Supporting families as they seek resources in the community

    • Basic technology skills and the electronic health record

    • Documentation

    • Confidentiality and guidelines