Shaping Tomorrow’s Healthcare Workforce (2026-2027)

Background

Durham County is facing a serious healthcare workforce shortage that is placing operational and financial strain on the Duke University Health System (DUHS). Essential roles — such as nursing, surgical technology, allied health professions and clinical research coordination — remain difficult to fill, creating bottlenecks in access to timely, high-quality care. Many of these jobs offer stable, technology-resilient career pathways that do not require a four-year degree, providing significant opportunities for economic mobility.

To address this challenge, Durham Public Schools, Durham Technical Community College and Duke Health have launched the Durham Early College of Health Sciences (DECHS). DECHS opened in Fall 2025 and is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ national initiative to create high schools dedicated to preparing students directly for in-demand healthcare careers. The school aims to build a diverse, local talent pipeline that strengthens Durham’s health workforce and improves health equity for marginalized communities.

Project Description

This project team will support the evaluation and sustainability goals of the DECHS initiative. Students will help assess the early impacts of DECHS on high school students and families, DECHS staff, DUHS employees and patients, and Durham’s broader education and health systems. The team will also examine the return on investment (ROI) of DECHS as a long-term workforce development strategy.

The team will operate in two subgroups:

Subteam 1: Evaluation development

• Conduct literature reviews on health workforce development and educational evaluation.
• Interview key partners from Durham Public Schools, Durham Tech, Duke Health and other Bloomberg-supported sites nationwide.
• Help design and refine data collection instruments to measure experiences, outcomes and perceptions among various DECHS stakeholders.
• Support the development of a national Evaluation and ROI Community of Practice across all 13 schools in the Bloomberg-funded initiative.

Subteam 2: ROI analysis

• Conduct literature reviews on ROI methodologies in workforce development.
• Define outcomes of interest (e.g., job placement, retention, advancement, health system productivity).
• Identify relevant data sources and required partnerships for future analysis.
• Develop preliminary statistical plans and modeling frameworks for long-term ROI evaluation.

Across both subteams, students will collaborate closely with educators, workforce development specialists and health system leaders to help shape a model for sustainable, equitable, community-rooted workforce development.

Anticipated Outputs

• Literature synthesis
• Key informant interview memo
• Data collection tools
• Summary memo of early findings
• ROI scoping document detailing outcomes, data sources, modeling assumptions and statistical analysis plan
• Presentations to key partners regarding analysis plan
• Draft data tools for future data acquisition and ROI analysis
• Contribution to peer-reviewed publications 

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this team will include 3 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students from a wide range of disciplines, such as public policy, education, social sciences, natural sciences and health sciences.

Students will gain experience in:

• Workforce development evaluation
• Mixed-methods research, including qualitative interviews and quantitative analysis
• Data collection design and implementation
• Cost modeling and ROI frameworks
• Collaborative, community-engaged research
• Translating findings into memos, presentations and reports for external partners
• Presenting work at national conferences (for selected students)

Graduate students will serve as subteam leaders and mentors. One graduate student will be selected to serve as project manager. Selected students may travel to present findings at relevant conferences and professional society meetings.

In Fall 2026, this team will meet on Tuesdays from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Small groups will meet on Thursdays from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

Timing

Summer 2026 – Summer 2027

Summer 2026 (optional):

• Background literature review, interviews with partners and review of outcomes from the first DECHS cohort

 Fall 2026:

• Subteam 1: Literature review, partner interviews and development of data collection processes
• Subteam 2: Literature review, partner interviews and scoping of ROI analysis

Spring 2027:

• Subteam 1: Implementation of data collection tools and support for Evaluation/ROI Community of Practice
• Subteam 2: Development of ROI modeling framework, early analyses and preparation of dissemination materials

Summer 2027 (optional):

• Further analysis and dissemination activities

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters