Optimizing the Environment Plan Implementation of Technical and Vocational Colleges — Industrial Environment Talents Project for Cultivating Aging Precision Healthcare Talents in the Health Industry of the Ministry of Education

1.Closely following Taiwan’s policy for promoting technical and vocational education and jointly building and sharing the industrial base by combining entities, industries, and vocational and technical colleges

The module courses for cultivating precision healthcare talents are offered to achieve the three goals of cross-discipline integration, cultivating talents jointly with entities, and building a platform for sharing equipment for the “Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program-Optimizing the Implementation Environment Plan for Technical and Vocational Colleges”. Priority is given to checking labor shortages in the industry and the University’s existing teaching and equipment resources. Afterward, we can build a device-sharing platform to share teachers, equipment, and courses in the future, establish a training mechanism for high-performing students in technical and vocational colleges, and carry out cross-discipline integration.

Cooperative entities (i.e., Shin Kong Wu Huo-Shih Memorial Hospital, Hondao Senior Citizen’s Welfare Foundation, Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and Kirana Colleges [Austria]) and partner schools (i.e., the Institute of Traditional Medicine, School of Medicine, and National Yang-Ming University) have been invited to promote this project with concerted efforts.

The main role of the cooperative entities is to develop and introduce the professional curriculum of the precision healthcare talents, collaborate with teachers with practical experience on the entities’ side, and introduce and cooperate with the international talent cultivation mechanism. The co-organizer school plays the role of joint curriculum development, training of teachers, planning of student practice, cross-school and cross-discipline combination, integration of development characteristics, and cultivation of professional talents (high-performing students in technical and vocational colleges and seed teachers).

Furthermore, this mechanism has also been expanded to vocational and technological colleges and universities in the Greater Taipei Area (Department of Long-Term Care, University of Kang Ning, Cardinal Tien Junior College of Healthcare and Management), vocational and technological colleges and universities in eastern Taiwan (St. Mary’s Medicine Nursing and Management College, Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology), and higher education institutions (Institute of Long-Term Care, Mackay Medical College). In particular, it allows students (general students) to use this industrial base for training in industrial technologies, basic technologies, precision care, and precision care courses (as shown in Figure 1).

2.Implementation strategies and development direction of Cultivation of Aging Precision Healthcare Talents Project

Taiwan is currently still in the stage of standardization and the integration of the precision care profession in the healthcare industry. Noteworthily, there is an urgent need to cooperate with educational institutions to offer courses and introduce the international experience to train precision healthcare talents.

Therefore, this “Academic-Industrial Collaboration in Cultivation of Aging Precision Healthcare Talents Project” focuses on the three elements, namely feature, industry, and international. The training model for precision healthcare talents is planned according to the demand of the “industrial side” for continuous care from health to dependence based on three stages and five levels. It combines service needs at different stages with the health industry. It also jointly trains internationally certified precision healthcare talents to meet industry needs. The project operates through four major processes, in the following order: inventorying, execution, cooperation, and sharing of resources, and establishment of a tracking and management mechanism to achieve sustainable management (as shown in Figure 2).

3.Creating two training courses and an industrial base for precision healthcare talents to become the guiding training base for precision healthcare talents in Taiwan

This project aims to “assist Taiwan’s healthcare industry in developing precision therapy and precision healthcare models (as in Figure 3) to meet international trends”. Thus, the training model for aging precision healthcare talents in this project has been planned according to the needs of the industry to cultivate talents with international mobility and competitiveness. It will be implemented in 4 major directions:

1. Cultivating the aging precision care talents required by the health industry and developing two types of training modules: the aging precision care module and the reablement module courses.

2. Adopting the international quality control mechanism for talent cultivation and establishing a practical training environment of international standards.

3. Linking with the international workplace and introducing technical-Australian TAFE health care training courses to connect high-performing students in technical and vocational colleges with the international health industry market.

4. Developing customized courses of professional core skills so that the industry can conduct employee training according to their needs and achieve seamless academic-industrial integration.

4.Aimed at sustainable management, this industrial base is expected to become a national certification center for healthcare professionals.

The demand for multiple talents and the shortage of nursing manpower in the health industry will continue to be the biggest challenge in improving the quality of healthcare worldwide.

This project focuses on the needs of the global industry and cultivates professionals with industrial and international standards. It will develop a series of operating centers with “production value”, attracting learners to pay for training and providing a variety of customized courses for industry training. Further, it is expected that in the future, Taiwan’s health industry will commend the students trained in this project as a benchmark for technical excellence, which may inspire the industry to send their employees to National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences for training.

Furthermore, through the training and certification of the seed teachers in the international certification program, the introduction of international professional courses will accelerate the establishment of “precision healthcare courses and the establishment of a training and certification mechanism for precision healthcare talents” in Taiwan. It will also promote the University as a national certification center for healthcare professionals and propel the technical and vocational education courses in Taiwan towards the goal of governmental certification and international promotion.