OR – Geoffrey Roche: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Saul Marquez:
Hey everybody! Saul Marquez with the Outcomes Rocket. I want to welcome you back. Today, I have the privilege of hosting Geoffrey Roche on the podcast. He is the son of a nurse, a healthcare expert, diversity advocate, and education enthusiast. He is serving as the Director of Workforce Development at Siemens Healthineers, and National Healthcare Practice Executive Advisor at Core Education. He speaks often on healthcare workforce topics at national conferences like Becker’s, HIMSS, ViVE, and many others. I’m excited to have him here on the podcast to talk about a very hot topic, which is the workforce. So, Geoffrey, thank you so much for being with us today.
Geoffrey Roche:
Thank you, Saul. It’s wonderful to be here.
Saul Marquez:
Yeah, alright. So look, we want to learn a little bit more about you before digging into the work that you guys are doing at Siemens. So what is it that inspires your work in healthcare?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. So, really, the inspiration for my work in healthcare very much comes from, you know, many ways, my mother. Obviously, my mother was a nurse, you know, very, very proud nurse, and served as a labor and delivery nurse for many, many years. And I actually had the privilege then, you know, through that inspiration to start my hospital administration career at the same hospital she had served for many years. And so it was really an interesting, you know, opportunity. She was not there at that time anymore, but it was an interesting opportunity to come in and have a lot of people know, you know, know me as, oh, you’re Gabby’s son. I remember you when you were this little kid, and now you’re in this administrative role. And so, and I would say too, I had a field study when I was in college that also really helped me understand it was at a hospital system, and it really helped me understand the opportunities that a hospital career and really a healthcare career can have.
Saul Marquez:
Love it. Yeah, it’s always been part of your life, and sort of you’ve just stuck with it. As we think about some of the biggest challenges that face our workforce in healthcare; it’s shortages and staff, it’s burnout. Talk to us a little bit about how Siemens Healthineers and the work that you do are adding value to the healthcare ecosystem on the workforce side.
Geoffrey Roche:
So I mean, Saul, as you know, I mean, when you look across the entire ecosystem of healthcare, we’re at a really interesting time, when we think about workforce. We’re dealing with record shortage in enrollment in majority of health sciences programs and other programs that ultimately can be beneficial to our workforce in healthcare, while we’re also dealing with a lot of people leaving the workforce, whether through retirement or just leaving for other opportunities, whether they’re burnt out, or they’ve decided that it’s time to move on. I think, you know, particularly what that calls for is for really innovative and intentional effort around where “eds and meds” can come together. And it really requires education, healthcare, all the institutions within this work coming together, and really coming together in an ecosystem fashion, working with workforce development boards, working with government, working with community-based organizations, working with schools, working with organizations that work with the youth. Because generally, when people think of healthcare careers, they think of doctor or nurse. That’s generally where the younger professional thinks about. And what we want them to really think about is a STEM approach, because, ultimately, healthcare is a STEM-based career. It is. And so the opportunities are endless. If you like technology, there’s opportunities. If you like to deal with patients, there’s opportunities. If you want to be administrative, there’s so many opportunities. And so, we believe strongly that we have to really help people understand the opportunities. We have to show them the opportunities through in-person, experiential learning. We have to use technology through extended reality and such to help them see where they could be after a college degree or even before a college degree. And so, that’s really what we need to do.
Saul Marquez:
Help us understand, how does Siemens Healthineers sort of play a role in this? What is it that’s being delivered, or? Is it a product? Is it a service? And who are you helping?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. So let me first just give the caveat that I don’t speak for all of Siemens, but I can educate from the perspective of what I have the privilege to do at Siemens. Siemens Healthineers is 100% invested in supporting our hospital systems, our partners, in looking specifically at how we can help bolster workforce development. You know, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a product, but it’s really a solution where we can work in kind of an ecosystem fashion and harness the power of partnership. How can we bring together at a national level, at a state level, at a regional level, all the different entities that are critical to really looking at how we bring more interest into the healthcare careers? Obviously, we’re in the Medtech space, right? But the reality of it is, is that the work that we do benefits every person in a healthcare ecosystem. And so, you know, certainly, we have an invested interest to really help support all aspects of healthcare careers. But especially we need more imaging professionals. We need more biomed clinical engineers. We certainly need more individuals on the radiation oncology side. And so, you know, we’re really at an interesting time, and we have a lot of work to do.
Saul Marquez:
Got it. So it’s really helping health systems that you guys are partnered with to ramp up the talent that’s needed to operationalize the technologies and then help patients.
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. And also focus on bringing more people in, from a pathways perspective. Also, help upskill existing. Retention, recruitment, upskilling. Really critical.
Saul Marquez:
Love it. Thank you for that. You know, I just was curious how the pieces fit together. And so, what would you say you guys are doing different or better than other folks in the space?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah, the difference here is that Siemens Healthineers has really been invested in education and workforce solutions for quite a while. When you look at the impact that we’ve made across this country with various different hospitals and health systems, many colleges and universities, many community colleges, we are just 100% invested in helping and being a vital partner in STEM career exploration. For example, when we do our mobile mammo screenings across the country, some people will, you know, will see them. The big bus pulls up, and obviously, a lot of access to care is provided in partnership with the hospital system, because we will never provide access to care from a screening and then not have that follow-up, if it’s necessary. That’s critical to us. Access to care means access to care. But we always include, as part of those events too, career exploration. We partner with churches, and we partner with schools, and we partner with other community-based organizations so that parents and children can learn about those careers. We believe very strongly in intentionality around these things. And so, I think what makes us different is a supreme and passionate commitment to make a difference.
Saul Marquez:
That’s awesome. I had no idea you guys did that. And kudos, right? Because it’s about the communities we serve. And helping everybody level up, not only their health through access, but also careers and opportunities that maybe they otherwise would not have known about. So I think that’s really, really admirable. And big kudos to the, to you and the company for doing that. Tell us about setbacks. You know, like as you guys have explored this sort of pathway, what setbacks have you seen, and what learnings have come out of them?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. You know, I think obviously this work is not easy, and we have to remember that it takes time. When we’re really talking about building a sustainable workforce, and really, a sustainable and healthy workforce in healthcare, it’s not going to be solved overnight. And so, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a setback, but I do think that, generally, we’re at a time where we know the issue is really tough, but we also want to solve it quickly, and we’re not going to always be in a position to solve it quickly. We’re going to have to really think hard and deep about how we build a more sustainable and healthy workforce, and that requires innovative partnerships. And obviously, as you know, when you’re in this space, that can take time. Funding is always a, you know, an opportunity and a challenge on both a government level, certainly, on a philanthropic level. We are going to seek to partner with all those types of entities, because we do believe this is an all-hands-on-deck approach, and it really requires authentic, genuine partnership. And to your point about learning, this is an everyday learning process. We’re learning about new opportunities. We’re learning about new challenges, and what I always say is we have to be in an innovation think-tank type of approach to look at everything and see if it can help move the needle.
Saul Marquez:
I love that, yeah. Thank you for that, Geoffrey. And it’s going to take time. And we all have to roll up our sleeves. When you think about best ways to solve problems, you know, we do what’s humanly possible, but then there’s technology to help us. Can you talk about maybe one healthcare trend or technology that’s going to change workforce as we know it?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. There’s so many, right, that specifically come to mind. And obviously, there’s a lot of focus, as I know you know, right now on AI, and the reality of it is that there’s definitely going to be some aspects of AI that can certainly be a benefit to the healthcare workforce. I do, though, from a workforce perspective, want to highlight that I think as time goes on, and we already are seeing this significant benefit, but as time goes on, we’re going to see even more benefit to the use of extended reality, particularly when we think about training our healthcare professionals, but also when we think about bringing people into understanding the benefits of a healthcare career. If you can imagine sitting in a middle school class learning about, you know, science and anatomy, and have the opportunity, whether you’re putting a headset on or using extended reality, you know, on a screen, and literally see aspects of the body, be able to be in a position where you’re getting to use your hands to understand how you could be that future technologist, or you could be that future clinical engineer, we’ll be in a much stronger position when that’s the type of learning that’s occurring.
Saul Marquez:
That’s great. And when you say extended reality, is it VR and AR, or?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. VR, AR, and certainly other aspects that wouldn’t necessarily be characterized as AR or VR, but are part of sort of that element of extended reality.
Saul Marquez:
Love it. Thanks for that. Yeah, it’s a huge opportunity, and scalability, right, is a big factor when you start doing extended reality options. So, I love it, Geoffrey. I love the work that you’re up to, the difference you guys are making. What closing thought would you leave our listeners with today, and what’s the best way for them to follow you and the work that you’re doing?
Geoffrey Roche:
Yeah. The thought I would leave particularly with is, you know, we also have to really be thoughtful around creating a more equitable workforce in healthcare. And we have to really be intentional to ensure that our entire team and our caregivers and providers really look like the patients that they serve. And so, again, we have to be very laser-focused on those initiatives as well, and you know, I’m blessed to be in an opportunity to do that. People can certainly follow me, certainly on LinkedIn, happy to connect at any time and really talk through these issues, and with true authenticity. We’re, we all have to be in this together, and so happy to be a part of it.
Saul Marquez:
I love it, Geoffrey. Thanks again for jumping on the podcast with us. Folks, let’s not stop at listening, as I like to say. Take action on the ideas that Geoffrey left us with. What are you doing to increase access? What are you doing to lift up your community? What are you doing to provide equity in the workplace? Some great questions to ask and to take action on. Geoffrey, really appreciate you jumping on with us and giving us the inspiration to do more.
Geoffrey Roche:
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
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