After Ms. Ryan’s psychotherapy session, I stopped at the nursing station and asked the nurse for the name of her aide. The nurse pointed to a uniformed woman right next to me, who turned and asked...
When it comes to staff, sweat the little things
By
Thomas Millay
Jun 10, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light many challenges for long-term care providers, but staffing retention continues to remain a top challenge for most organizations. With turnover rates nearing 50%,...
Nursing home advocates urge 24-hour RN staffing, PPE mandates in sweeping reform agenda
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 16, 2021
The Care For Our Seniors Act, put forth by the AHCA and LeadingAge, seeks to address systemic issues in the nursing home sector that have been laid bare during the pandemic, including infection control...
Foster relationships to improve staff retention
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Jul 20, 2021
“God bless you,” an aide said to me the other day after I handed her a container of homemade green bean salad. She’d joined the same psychology-based weight loss program I was using and the green...
Bridging the disconnect between leaders and workers
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Apr 05, 2022
As I reviewed the many recent long-term care happenings and articles to select a topic for this week’s blog, my mind kept returning to the fascinating column by researchers Lindsey Creapeau and Jennifer...
As the editors of the June 2021 volume of The Gerontologist put it, “Workforce issues are the most significant challenges facing the long-term care industry.” This special edition of the journal...
How would staff score you on a retention audit right now?
By
Cara Silletto
Feb 03, 2022
Now that most of us have given up on our initial New Year’s resolutions, perhaps it’s time to set some more realistic expectations for the year. Don’t worry; we can do it together. At this exact...
Nursing home employees often suffer from compassion fatigue
By
Patricia Smith
Jun 19, 2012
Compassion fatigue and grief are the unrecognized downside to working in the nursing home industry. When sufferers are overburdened by emotions, they want to escape from work, end up feeling isolated from...
Despite historic conditions, leaders show resilience, attraction to ‘meaningful’ work, McKnight’s...
By
James M. Berklan
Sep 01, 2020
The dangerous and often deadly conditions in nursing homes during the pandemic have not broken the dedication of top managers, a new McKnight’s survey finds.
If you give the staff a livable wage…
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 07, 2021
The longstanding story of long-term care staffing is that organizations can’t afford to increase the salaries of their workers due to Medicaid reimbursement deficits, rising expenses, tight margins and...