Wednesday marked the start of a new CNA Fest in Little Rock, AR, and with it came results of a certified nursing aide survey that emphasized issues that have bothered nursing home direct care workers for years.
For the second time in a row, the staffing shortage was the top concern cited in the annual poll conducted by the National Association of Health Care Assistants. Respect from supervisors and “burnout and exhaustion” were the next repeat top trouble areas that emerged.
Better pay and ongoing training opportunities also were sore spots highlighted in the eight-question survey taken by nearly 3,000 CNAs.
“The survey results and comments show how little has changed in the past year. Efforts to recover from the pandemic and enable healthcare settings to move forward must include attention to the needs of CNAs,” said NAHCA Board Chair Sherry Perry. “These are care team members who know the residents best and yet are paid very little and recognized even less. They deserve living wages and respect.”
Retention and turnover were identified as key focal points to deal with pervasive staffing shortages. Survey respondents were given an opportunity to supply long-form answers and those, combined with raw response scores, revealed the group’s clear preferences.
The No. 1 way to retain more aides in their current jobs would be to improve wages and benefits, results showed. Nearly all (92%) said they wanted to continue as a CNA if the position came with additional educational opportunities, pay raises and recognition.
Among the vocational education and training topics most desired: end-of-life care, infection control and fall prevention.
Thousands of long-form comments were included in the survey responses, including one that said “a lot more training” is needed for “aides that were given a quick CNA license during the pandemic.”
“Most don’t quite understand,” the respondent wrote, according to a NAHCA press release.
“As CNAs continue to work amid shortages, they are becoming more and more burned out and stretched thin,” said NAHCA CEO and co-founder Lori Porter, a 2023 McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor inductee. “This has consequences for both quality care and, of course, the ongoing careforce crisis.”
Porter said survey responses will help shape NAHCA’s policy priorities and advocacy efforts, particularly with the White House’s planned first-ever minimum staffing mandate still in the works.
