We know that turnover of nursing assistants in long-term care is high. In our own estimates, turnover has averaged over 100% in NC nursing homes since 2003. North Carolina has been at the forefront of developing initiatives aimed at reducing turnover but much work is still to be done.
What do you think are the major challenges for nursing assistants in nursing homes as they care for residents? What do you think are the solutions to these challenges? We are looking for a robust discussion. Your comments are welcome.
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Better pay, better training, better leadership. When I coordinate educational programs for LTC staff in my region – 100% of the attendees are Administrative Staff. They send the DON. They send the Administrator. They send the Social Worker. Rarely, if ever, do they send a medtech or CNA. This is a clear statement to the Direct Care staff that they are not important enough to attend community workshop and the workshops are FREE. The anti-team approach to LTC is killing the system. There is a clear cut heirarchy of normally white males and females at the top in Administrative positions of Admin, DON, ADON, Business Office, etc and the cooks, transportation, housekeeping, and direct care workers are normally black females. There is clearly a difference in pay, treatment, training, and rewards between the two.
Here is something that CNA’s have to contend with
· U.S. nursing home assistants report high rate of workplace assaults
U.S. nursing home assistants report high rate of workplace assaults
A new nationwide study from the American Journal of Public Health reports a high incidence of workplace assaults on nursing assistants found in U.S. nursing homes.
Researchers analyzed data from the 2004 National Nursing Assistant Survey linked it with facility information from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey. They found that 34 percent of the surveyed nursing assistants reported experiencing physical injuries from residents’ aggression in the previous year, including 12 percent who reported injuries from human bites during the past year. Nursing assistants employed in nursing homes with Alzheimer care units were more likely to experience injuries such as bites, whereas nursing assistants employed by nursing homes with a waiting list of residents or for-profit facilities were not associated with such incidents. Researchers found that mandatory overtime and nursing homes that were understaffed had stronger associations of workplace assault experiences.
“Workplace violence prevention efforts that focus on nursing home settings with specialized wings or wards for Alzheimer’s disease should be developed,” the study’s authors suggest. “In addition, nursing home managers should maintain appropriate staffing levels to reduce the workload of their nursing assistants.”
[From: “Workplace Assaults on Nursing Assistants in U.S. Nursing Homes: A Multilevel Analysis.” Contact: SangWoo Tak, ScD, MPH, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio, STak@cdc.gov].