Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) working in skilled nursing facilities affiliated with The GREEN HOUSE® Project spend more time on direct care than their counterparts in traditional facilities, according to a new report.

The study also shows that Green House CNAs spend more time engaging with residents when they are not assisting them with activities of daily living (ADLs), as compared with CNAs in more traditional long-term care facilities.

“This study confirms what we can see and feel from the moment we enter a flourishing Green House,” said PHI Midwest Training & Organizational Development Specialist Maureen Sheahan. “The Shahbazim take pride in creating home and comfort for the elders. Their close contact with each other, along with the comprehensive way that they engage in daily life, tasks, and activities, create meaningful and satisfying relationships for both staff and elders.”

Redesigned CNA Roles in Green House Facilities

The GREEN HOUSE Project promotes a philosophical model for long-term care facilities that emphasizes de-institutionalization and aims to engender more meaningful interactions between caregivers and residents.

One way that Green House facilities accomplish those goals is to restructure the roles of their CNAs, which are known in Green House parlance as Shahbazim.

Like traditional CNAs, Shahbazim are responsible for administering direct care to residents. Unlike CNAs, however, they have a host of additional indirect-care responsibilities, such as doing laundry, housekeeping, and preparing meals for residents.

Green House facilities also require Shahbazim to organize into self-managed work teams, which help maintain an orderly facility and manage care throughout the building.

More Time Spent on Care

According to the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study, Shahbazim spend an average of 24 more minutes each day on direct-care activities than CNAs in traditional long-term care facilities — despite the fact that Shahbazim have more indirect-care responsibilities than traditional CNAs.

The study also found that Shahbazim spend approximately 25 minutes a day engaging with residents outside of ADL activities. CNAs in traditional facilities spend an average of just five minutes a day engaging with residents when they are not helping them with their ADLs.

The report will be published in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

It was written by researchers from Health Management Strategies in Austin, Texas, and the Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

– by Matthew Ozga