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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
SA Chapman, PhD, Center for the Health Professions, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 410, San Francisco, CA 94118, (415) 502-4419, susanac@itsa.ucsf.edu and PE Franks, BA, UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94118.
Certified nurse assistants (CNAs) and certified home health aides (HHAs) are the mainstay of direct care provided by California’s more than 1,400 nursing facilities and nearly 800 home health agencies. The long-term care workforce has a direct relationship to the quality of care delivered, access to appropriate levels of care, and costs of care.
Methods: This California fieldwork study was part of a national study designed to review trends, issues, and supply/demand projections for nursing aides and home health aides. Key informant interviews, review of state and national reports, and analysis of secondary data were conducted May-July, 2001.
Findings: The number of new CNAs is not keeping pace with those who do not renew their certification. Estimates of current CNA shortages range from 10,000-35, 000. Accurate supply/demand data for CNAs, HHAs, and other long-term care workers are not available, including numbers of workers actively employed in different work settings, how long they stay in positions, and position vacancies. Workforce planning for nursing facilities and home health agencies in California will be difficult without better data.
Recommendations: 1) Government, provider, educator commitment to improve supply/demand data; 2) common language to understand data; 3) agreement about supply/ demand dynamics and reasons for shortages; 4) strategic investments to meet data needs for specific purposes (workforce planning, policymaking, research, analysis).
Learning Objectives: Participants will: 1) identify critical nature of workforce shortage in certified long-term care workers; 2) describe improvements in supply/ demand data needed
Learning Objectives: Participants will
Keywords: Workforce, Aging
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.