NCHCFA COLLABORATES WITH APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR IN NURSING ASSISTANT TURNOVER AND RETENTION STUDY

NCHCFA and Sandi J. Lane, Ph.D., FACHE, LNHA, Associate Professor, Health Care Management, Program Director, Master of Health Administration, Beaver College of Health Sciences are working in collaboration to better understand the factors that contribute to nursing assistant high turnover and low retention rates in North Carolina nursing homes. As you are aware the low retention and high turnover rates in nursing homes increase the financial burden for nursing homes and interferes with the quality of care and services provided. This staffing challenge for nursing homes is and will continue to be exacerbated by the changing demographics and projected doubling of the number of older adults requiring nursing home services by 2050.

This study will assess the job satisfaction of nursing assistants in North Carolina nursing homes. The aim of this study is to determine factors that contribute to nursing assistant’s satisfaction and desire to remain employed by their current employer. Your participation is crucial to the success of this study. Each nursing home and its residents and staff are unique and individual organizations with distinct cultures, therefore responses from across the state are needed to better understand the factors contributing to increasing retention and lowering turnover.

This week, NCHCFA will mail to each nursing home a package containing the survey instrument that contains the informed consent information, the information and instructions for the conducting the survey at the nursing home, envelopes for completed surveys, and a mailing envelope to return the completed surveys to Dr. Lane.

NCHCFA encourages all facilities to participate in this study. Your assistance will:

• Offer current feedback on job satisfaction
• Provide data to support the need for policy change
• Contribute to the state of knowledge of practices, policies, and work environment that impact NA satisfaction

Contact erick@nchcfa.org for additional information.