Sophiahemmet
Skill Shift Initiative is a coordinated, free-of-charge, pool of resources. A tool for gathering temporarily available people who are a resource for the healthcare system in Sweden.
In March 2020, SAS announced that 10,000 of their employees would be laid-off as a result of the impact that the coronavirus has had on the travel industry. At the same time, healthcare was buckling under the strain of creating more intensive care units around the country and filling the absence of healthcare workers, elderly care workers and in the home care workers as a result of the virus.
With record speed Wallenberg Foundations, Novare, one of Sweden’s foremost human capital specialists, and Sophiahemmet University and Hospital collaborated to create a fast-track medical training that offered laid-off SAS cabin crew the opportunity to switch from cabin crew to healthcare worker and relieve some of the burden of the hospital professionals.
The program has attracted increasing interest from other employers and workers around Sweden and is now open to all who possess basic medical training. It is a 3-day intensive online program.
I was employed by SAS as cabin crew and got laid off. When I heard about Skill Shift Initiative and the training at Sophiahemmet University and Hospital, I applied right away. I didn’t want to stay home waiting for the pandemic to pass, I wanted to do what I could to help. The training was professional and included skills relevant to the assignment. I am currently working at Sophiahemmet Hospital and I already feel that this is an experience that will last a lifetime.
– Filip Palmgren, one of the first participants at Skill Shift Initiative training
Training is targeted at those who want to step up to help reduce the burden on healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus. The training provides a solid foundation to step into working in elderly care and home care service (hemtjänst). Course graduates become an important part of the day-to-day work of a healthcare provider and will, after completing the training, be able to contribute to lifting some of the burden so that doctors and nurses can devote themselves to caring for patients to an even greater extent.
