The stress health care workers such as certified nursing assistants face can be overwhelming. New research from the University of Georgia suggests that helping CNAs with career advancement opportunities could stop them from quitting.
As the population ages and more people need long-term care, the demand for CNAs continues to grow. However, the turnover rate for CNAs is about 27.7% per year due to factors such as stress and low pay.
Not only does this make the current shortage of health care workers worse, but it could leave remaining CNAs, nurses and doctors struggling to keep up with the needs of their patients.
To learn how to help, the researchers from the UGA Institute of Gerontology and Institute for Disaster Management surveyed more than 200 CNAs about their career satisfaction, opportunities for career progression, professional fulfillment and burnout.
"CNAs are the people who are going to be spending the day to day with aging adults and the disabled - people who really need long-term care. They really have the heart to do this work," said Anita Reina, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in UGA's Cognitive Aging Research and Education Center in the College of Public Health. "If we lose people who are skilled in these areas, we may end up dealing with a generation of people who are not getting the essential day-to-day care that they need."
Career advancement opportunities lead to professional fulfillment, less burnout
The researchers sought to explore the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout that could lead to CNAs leaving their jobs. They analyzed the CNAs' views of career progression, gauging interest in continuing education programs and what skills CNAs want to gain for career advancement.
The study found that CNAs with access to continuing education programs tend to be happier in their jobs and less likely to be burned out. But only about one in three CNAs were able to access such opportunities.
"CNAs were happy about their jobs and their chosen career path. What they were not happy about was their progression opportunities," Reina said. "Few of the places where they worked offered any kind of professional development opportunities."
Interest in career progression is high, but opportunities are scarce for certified nursing assistants
The vast majority of the CNAs were interested in additional training programs. The most important topic to them was improving well-being through self-care and prioritizing their mental health.
Many also said they wanted to focus on improving their health care skillset and learn how to handle difficult patient interactions. Others wanted to learn about what other health care fields are accessible with a CNA certificate and how to negotiate their salaries.
"Health care programs can offer these kinds of job progression opportunities, whether it's continuing education training within their own facilities or training people to take on a leadership role," Reina said. "Those opportunities might help some of the CNAs feel like they have a voice."
By implementing more programs that allow CNAs to improve their skills and well-being, the researchers hope that this essential group of workers more fulfilled and able to provide the care and connection their patients need.
The study was published in Gerontology & Geriatrics Education and co-authored by Ashley N. Adawi Suker, Fiona Douglas, Kerstin Emerson, Ke'von T. Hamilton, Austin D. Dobbs, Curtis Harris, Jenay M. Beer and Lisa M. Renzi-Hammond.
