Unreasonable Workloads
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High turnover rates (an estimated 70-100% a year nationwide) and frequent last-minute “call-outs” by demoralized or overburdened staff make most nursing homes chronically short-staffed. To cover for their absent colleagues, nursing assistants are often required to work care for a dozen residents or more, or to work overtime. Working at that pace leaves no time to adjust to individual preferences, let alone spend quality time with residents, who often rely on their CNAs for a little warmth and companionship. There often isn’t even time to meet residents’ needs for basic things, such as getting to the toilet on time. To address this problem, the National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform calls for minimum staffing standards. Nursing homes often hire temporary workers from staffing agencies to plug staffing holes. But these relatively costly workers drain personnel budgets, leaving less for raises and benefits for permanent staff. They affect care quality, since they don’t know the residents well enough to deliver individualized care or provide meaningful companionship. And they put additional pressure on experienced staff, who – for no extra pay – must constantly train and oversee new and temporary workers while handling their own workloads. These added duties lead to burnout and cause many nursing assistants to leave, starting the turnover cycle all over again. Home care workers have the opposite problem. Shuttling between an ever-changing roster of clients, usually spending just a few hours a week with each, they often struggle to piece together enough hours to support themselves and their children. |
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