Finding and training qualified nurses remains one of the field’s top challenges, the head of a top senior care nurses’ group said Monday.
“It’s hard to recruit. There’s not enough faculty in nursing schools and it’s very competitive now [to gain admission],” Robin Arnicar, RN, FACDONA, the president of NADONA told McKnight’s yesterday at the group’s annual meeting and conference in Las Vegas.
Residents and facilities would benefit if nurses were given more professional development options, Arnicar added. Licensed practical nurses, in particular, need more resources and instructors, Arnicar continued. As residents continue to get older and sicker, they are presenting more complex problems to healthcare professionals, she noted.
“We need to get back to good, solid assessments,” she noted. Reducing rehospitalizations, better wound treatments and dementia care were cited as top clinical challenges facing caregivers.
