“What’s wrong with this picture?” begins an op-ed in the April 22 Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“In Washington, hairdressers need 1,000 hours of training and dog masseurs need 350 hours. Washington’s long-term care workers, on the other hand, need only 34 hours of training.”
“More Training for Long-Term Care Workers” notes that the direct-care workers who provide home and community care in Washington are required to complete only 34 hours of training - well under half of the minimum required of nursing assistants in nursing homes. “This is especially bewildering when you consider that often the care is provided without an on-site nurse or supervisor,” point out authors Nancy Dapper and Louise Ryan. Dapper is the director of the western and central Washington state chapter of Alzheimer’s Association, and Ryan is the state Long-Term Care Ombudsman.
The authors are advocating for a recommendation by Long-Term Care Worker Training Workgroup created last year by the governor of the state. That group recommended that the state require a minimum of 85 hours of training plus certification for long-term care workers, but the legislature has not introduced its recommendation in the form of a bill.
“We have a tradition in Washington of going to the voters when the Legislature fails to act on critical issues,” write Dapper and Ryan. “Maybe it’s time for the people to finish what the Legislature started?”
Elise Nakhnikian, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org
I got my license in Michigan and we had to complete 80 hours of class time pluse on the job training with RN’s as subervision and we had inservices classes every month, with more than one to pick from to go. I thought that was great!! But, most place’s of employment don’t give you anything to keep you learning about your job. Some employers go to these big conferences and when they come back they just say; “I know more than you,” and leave you hanging. When you do something that isn’t the new way they scold you infront of residents and staff and that’s how things are learned in some situations.
Hello
I agree with the Washington Advocates to increase the number of training hours for long-term staff. However, higher salary will be needed as well. Long-term staff must get on going training and it should not be limited to what the Office of Developmental Disabilities recommends, which some organizations are happy to just meet that minimum requirement and do not pursue any more training. Advocates in every state must follow what Washington advocates are doing.