A big part of PHI’s work is helping long-term care organizations improve staff retention. That’s because staff retention is critical to the quality of care.

If you are considering a nursing home for a loved one, staff turnover is definitely something you will want to inquire about.

Advancing Excellence, a campaign to improve the quality of America’s nursing homes, has eight primary goals for improving quality care, one of which is staff retention. For this goal, Advancing Excellence has developed a fact sheet for consumers (pdf), which suggests good questions to ask when judging the quality of nursing home care. For example:

• Talk with residents about whether they have a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) who has cared for them for a long period of time. If the resident can’t answer, talk with the family.
• Ask the administrator, the director of nursing, CNAs and nurses how long they have worked there.
• Ask the director of nursing or administrator about the home’s turnover or staff retention rates.
• Ask the home if they have plans for improving their retention rates.

Additional consumer-friendly fact sheets are available on Advancing Excellence’s website.

PHI is an active member of the Advancing Excellence steering committee.

Aaron Toleos, Online Communications Director
atoleos@phinational.org