According to a new report, satisfaction among nursing home consumers and staff has reached a record high.
The 2008 National Survey of Consumer and Workforce Satisfaction in Nursing Homes (pdf), released on May 27, draws on the responses of 223,449 employees; 54,711 residents; and 146,949 family members in 5,075 nursing facilities across the United States.
It shows that 85 percent of consumers and 66 percent of employees give “good” or “excellent” ratings to their nursing homes, with consumers rating their overall satisfaction and employees stating whether they would recommend their facility as a place to work.
The survey was conducted by independent research firm My InnerView, which maintains what it calls “the senior care profession’s largest database of customer and workforce satisfaction metrics.” The firm began conducting its annual review of nursing home satisfaction beginning in 2005, and has seen the reported satisfaction levels, as well as the size of the survey sample, increase with each new report. The latest report shows the highest levels of satisfaction yet recorded.
These results are tempered by the fact that the lowest levels of staff satisfaction come from those employees who are most directly involved with resident care.
“This year’s report underscores the link between consumer and workforce satisfaction,” the report says, adding that “[b]eyond consumer satisfaction, employee satisfaction is predictive of many other performance parameters. Facilities with higher employee satisfaction tend to have lower staff turnover and better clinical outcomes.”
Top factors identified as driving staff satisfaction for both nurses and nursing assistants include management that cares and listens, assistance with job stress and burnout, caring and appreciative supervisors, training to deal with difficult residents, workplace safety, and access to adequate supplies and equipment.
According to Marcia Mayfield, PHI director of evaluation, “The results from the My InnerView survey confirm that good management practices that support direct-care staff are crucial to job satisfaction, and satisfied staff are associated with higher levels of consumer satisfaction.
“Consumer satisfaction is also associated with the presence of caring and respectful staff. That’s why PHI believes so strongly in improving the communications skills of nursing home staff.”
This national survey of consumer and workforce satisfaction would likley have passed me by had it not been for this review and easy access to the report. Thank you.
Dolly Fleming
Community of Vermont Elders
I guess they did not come to the nursing homes in the area I live in. Number one: we have a high turnover in most NH locally.
Number two: care is pitiful at best. Out elders are not cared for in the manner they should be. Caregivers take short cuts due to staff shortages and stress. The training they are provided is not
used once they have started working. The old employees tell the new employees they do not have time to do adequate care on 8 to 10 patients so they skip tasks.
Number three: the problems we have now are the same ones that existed since the 80′s. How come it has taken this long to do something? Maybe because the congressmen, and baby boomers know they will end up in a NH in the not to far future and they want to make sure care is adequate when they get there.
It makes me angry that these reports do not give an accurate account of what is really going on in LTC facilities and NH a crossed the country. Also there is very little evidence that the above mentioned interventions applied to sustain staff and provide adequate care is true. From my research, there has not been much research done in this area to qualify this data. Where do you get your data?