Foundation for Long Term Care

There are a variety of issues facing long-term care nursing facilities. First, there is a severe shortage of long-term care registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in New York State. According to a 2006 report by LeadingAge New York, about 65% of New York nursing homes reported having unfilled RN and LPN positions. In addition, nursing programs rarely train students in management. Yet when RNs or LPNs start working in long-term care settings, they are thrust into management and leadership positions as charge nurses, leading to difficulties in these roles and a resulting high turnover rate. In September 2007, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) awarded the Foundation for Long Term Care (FLTC) a grant to expand across New York State the Pathways to Leadership program, a leadership, management, and communications training program aimed at reducing turnover of charge nurses.

The Peer Mentoring for Long Term Care Charge Nurses project (originally funded by the New York State Department of Health) developed and tested a retention and management skill development program that addressed quality issues caused by under-prepared charge nurses in long-term care and charge nurse shortages. It has shown a statistically significant improvement in retention of long-term care charge nurses. FLTC will (a) conduct statewide training for 180 nursing homes and other care providers in nine regions of the State on how to use the training materials from this project; (b) prepare a cadre of 100 expert trainers so that the training can continue after the grant period; and (c) evaluate impact. Costs of the development, production, evaluation, and statewide dissemination of these training materials are covered by a New York State Department of Health grant. FLTC will offer statewide training to synchronize with the distribution of the training materials in February 2008.