Staffing Stability In Long-Term Care

There are several issues related to staffing stability in long-term care that were of interest to the Region of Durham, with negative perceptions of working in long-term care only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the specific issues looked at were:

• Perceptions that part-time staff in the LTC field could be treated better (e.g. work environment, scheduling system where staff must work multiple jobs)
• A lot of turnover among staff
• Long-term care homes aren’t often seen as the best career options for new graduates
• New graduates (specifically nurses) aren’t always prepared to assuming the leadership roles that are required of them when they begin working on a long-term care home

The purpose of the current project was to address the above issues by surveying both current Regional long-term care staff, as well as Nursing and PSW students at Ontario Tech University and Durham College, to better understand perceptions of working in long-term care.

The results of this information collection will inform the development of outreach initiatives to improve the perception of a career in long-term care and attract more people to work in the Region’s long-term care homes.

Project research paper