The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Crash course aims to ease CT nursing home staffing shortages during COVID
Dozens of workers have completed an 8-hour crash course allowing them to work as nurse aides in Connecticut, including at nursing homes.
The relaxed training and certification requirements — certified nurse aides, or CNAs, must usually complete a 100-hour program — came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued an emergency waiver at the end of March.
The federal agency, which regulates skilled nursing facilities, said the eased restrictions under the Temporary Nurse Aides program would “assist in potential staffing shortages seen with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In Connecticut, 35 people have completed the free online training, according to Matt Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities, who said he received the numbers from the Department of Public Health.
“Moving forward, this new position will help in addressing staffing issues,” Barrett said in an email. “But given that 73 percent of nursing home residents are state funded Medicaid recipients, Connecticut must continue to monitor nursing home staffing closely and provide additional resources so nursing homes can meet staffing needs as we move to a second wave.”
Nurse aides typically provide hands-on care to residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. The work includes tasks like feeding and clothing residents, helping them with dental needs, doing laundry and helping a resident use the bathroom.
Becoming a certified nurse aide, or CNA, in Connecticut normally requires a 100-hour training program coordinated by a registered nurse with at least two years of experience, according to the state Department of Public Health’s website.
Sixteen hours in training alone is devoted to learning about residents’ rights, communication, safety and emergency procedures and infection control, among other topics — all before students are allowed any direct contact with residents.
Gov. Ned Lamont adopted the eased licensing in Connecticut in late May through an executive order.
Under Connecticut regulations, temporary nurse aides are restricted from some care procedures certified nursing aides are trained to perform, according to the Department of Public Health.
Lamont’s executive order also bars temporary nurse aides from working with patients who test positive for COVID-19.
In eight states, including New York and New Jersey, temporary nurse aids can to become certified after only taking an 8-hour free online course. In 11 other states, including Connecticut as well as the District of Columbia, aides have to complete some additional training after completing the course.
One nursing home in Minnesota offered nonnursing staff a chance to win a TV if they took the training in case the home ran into staffing shortages.
Mairead Painter, Connecticut’s long-term care ombudsman, said she hopes people apply for the new position to address staffing needs at nursing homes.
She said the scope of care for residents temporary nurse aides can provide is limited compared to that of certified nurse aides.
“They could help them get outside to visit,” she said. “They could help them with their social and emotional needs in a way where currently there’s some gaps.”
The temporary nurse aides have drawn scrutiny from at least one advocate for nursing home residents.
“We have significant concerns about this program,” said Richard Mollot, executive director of The Long Term Care Community Coalition, a New York nonprofit.
“Specifically, while it may be appropriate for nursing homes to bring in staff when faced with an emergency of this proportions, it is highly inappropriate and dangerous to residents to use insufficiently trained nurse aides on an ongoing basis,” he said.
Lamont’s order only allows the temporary positions through the pandemic. The federal guidelines also set a limited time frame for these individuals to serve in that capacity.
Two nursing home operators in Connecticut said they have taken advantage of the program.
“It’s no secret that the entire nation has been experiencing staffing shortages, even before the pandemic,” said Lori Mayer, a spokeswoman for Genesis HealthCare. The company runs nearly 350 facilities nationwide, 17 of them in Connecticut.
She said the company has been able to pull staff from sister facilities or from a temporary staffing agency.
“In a handful of cases, we did hire temporary unit assistants or if we had a CNA who was not able to test, we could use them as a CNA until testing resumed,” Mayer said.
Timothy Brown, a spokesman for Athena Health Care Systems, which operates 26 facilities in the state as well as others in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said temporary nurse aides have been hired throughout the company’s facilities.
“The program provided a great relief to our centers allowing for expedited hiring and orientation process to ensure uninterrupted coverage for care of our residents throughout the pandemic,” Brown said.