As the older members of Generation Z, now in their late teens and 20s, are starting to filter into universities, grad schools and medical programs across the country, the demographic is bringing an entirely new set of assets and challenges with it, according to an editorial published in the Journal of the American College Radiology this week.
Generation Z-ers are typically regarded as the generation of kids born between the mid-'90s and mid-2000s, corresponding author Steven P. Rowe, MD, PhD, and colleagues wrote, and they tend to be practical and job-driven.
“In many ways, they have more similarities with Generation X than with Millennials,” Rowe and co-authors said.
Administrators and program directors alike have spent years focused on attracting—and retaining—Millennial radiology recruits, the authors said, but in 2018 they have to consider the incoming generation, too.
“Nimbly responding to changing trends is difficult for any large entity such as a healthcare system, but strategically placing members of Generation Z in the right positions may be helpful,” Rowe et al. wrote. “The healthcare industry should be interested in having Generation Z employees on board to help ‘steer the ship’ in new directions.”
Gen Z seems to echo Gen X in that it’s logical and ambitious, the authors said. In a field where people are dealing with mass quantities of data every day, Generation Z employees could be key to effectively managing content with tech and distributing it to the people who need it.
Tina Wells, a co-author of the article who works with Buzz Marketing Group, said she and her colleagues conducted research into the top 10 trends of Generation Z in 2018 and found the group is largely middle-class, glued to technology and wrapped up in social justice. One of the biggest trends of the year was the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which will inevitably affect the entire medical industry but Wells predicts will start with pathology and radiology.
“We seem to have reached the tipping point where consumers understand AI and are increasingly accepting of the ways in which it might improve their lives,” the authors said. “The AI revolution in healthcare is just beginning, but eventually every facet of the healthcare industry will be impacted by machine learning algorithms that can make sense of immense datasets and generate predictive analytics based on that data.”
Some of the other traits of Generation Z are less obvious but also pertinent, Rowe et al. said, including evolving attitudes about spirituality and the rise of social media and “fake news.” Gen Z values transparency, which is important in the idealized, patient-centered care model, and doctors are becoming aware of boundaries they didn’t think twice about before the #MeToo movement and publicization of transgender issues.
“Radiology must become more proactive in meeting the needs of Generation Z,” the authors wrote. “Not only are the members of Generation Z going to be responsible for their own healthcare, but they will inevitably be involved in the healthcare of elderly relatives, even to the extent that they may become the focal point for ensuring proper healthcare for their families.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.