1. Training and professional development efforts need enhancing now.
Since the pandemic declaration, most skilled nursing providers have focused the brunt of their training efforts and dollars on infection control and personal protective equipment use — and not professional development.
“Many of the less urgent, yet still important, professional development offerings took a back seat,” said Jenna Vassallo, senior content marketing manager for HealthcareSource. “In the early weeks and months of COVID-19, most managers were forced to focus on the immediate training needs of their frontline staff.”
In September, the Trump administration even allocated significant funding for staff COVID-19 battle preparedness.
But even as the pandemic continues to rage, facilities should not let their staff development suffer.
“This is not a time for providers to cut back budget in these areas,” said Lisa Fordyce, executive vice president of OnShift. “Providers must continue to invest heavily in training and education for their staff to help ensure that senior leaders are properly trained on all protocols.”
Moreover, during the pandemic, many employees have gone above and beyond, highlighting potential future leaders and role models, Fordyce added. “Executives should be taking notice to help assist in their succession planning.”
2. Be aware of the so-called enthusiasm gap.
It would be understandable if a community’s workforce may be a bit lukewarm to the thought of enriching their skills. Many employees are getting burned out. Pressures mount on once dual-income households becoming single.
Recent surveys bear this out. The McKnight’s 2020 Mood of the Market Survey, for example, showed only 8% of nursing home staff linked training as the most important need for high or very high job satisfaction, compared to being the top link (at 21%) a year earlier, in pre-COVID-19 days.
Efforts are also now afoot to bridge the education gap among low-level workers. The American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living in September announced development of a temporary nurse aide program designed to meet the critical staff shortages occurring as a result of COVID-19. LeadingAge, meanwhile, has supported a program that provides training for basic care aides to help out certified nursing assistants with tasks that do not require a license.
3. In the end, the basics matter.
“Many of the fundamentals have stayed the same in terms of what nurse aides and frontline care staff value in the workplace,” said Brandi Kurtyka, CEO of MyCNAJobs. “At the end of the day, caregivers still value flexible hours, a positive and healthy working environment, learning and growth opportunities, and a fair wage with benefits.”
But there are a few new wrinkles. “Now we see caregivers showing more interest in working for a company dedicated to keeping workers and residents safe,” she added.
Along these lines, there is a need to prepare staff for emergencies.
“The coronavirus pandemic has underlined the need to train staff so they are competent and prepared for future crisis situations, as well as the importance of an agile infrastructure that can adapt to a changing environment,” said Jeff Sandstrom, strategic product marketing manager for post-acute care at Relias.
A third development is probably the industry’s first, full-fledged focus on workforce mental health, added Vassallo.
4. Thinking outside the box will be critical.
“Leaders should avoid sticking with the status quo,” Vassallo said. “Avoid thinking about training merely as ‘what’s required,’ and more the big picture of talent development.”
Sandstrom advises always staying nimble and open to new ideas.
“COVID-19 has proven that unexpected events and external factors can dramatically affect training requirements,” he said. “Those organizations with a strong, yet flexible, staff development and training program in place can pivot when needed and refocus educational content to match changing service demands.”
5. Let empathy guide your decisions.
When providers gleefully close the book on 2020, they must never forget the trauma their workforce and frontline staff endured.
“Recruiting and retaining frontlife staff is hard and takes perseverance and patience,” said Kurtyka. “It’s not easy, but if you can put yourself in the shoes of a care worker — often a single parent, living paycheck to paycheck, with little education — and add a dose of kindness, it’s one of the biggest silver bullets to hiring and retaining good people.”
From the November 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
