Be In the Know!

Are you responsible for selecting inservice materials for your nursing assistants? If so, here are a few tips to help you get the best product for meeting the learning needs of your aides.

1. Look for a Wide Range of Well-Written, Relevant Topics
Most nursing supervisors agree that providing aides with knowledge of problem solving, communication skills, self-care and stress management are just as important as teaching them about a disease process. When selecting an inservice provider, make sure the company offers a variety of topics including mandatory topics, psycho-social issues, basic skill reviews, disease processes and professional development issues.

Find out who develops the inservices. While it may look impressive to have physicians authoring the inservices, how much direct experience do most physicians have with nursing assistants? Ask if the authors have taught and/or supervised CNA’s.

A first-rate inservice provider should offer current information in each inservice and should update topics on a regular basis. And, since a good way to encourage retention of your nursing assistants is to create a “career ladder” for them, review the available topics to see if they support career advancement for your aides.

Do the inservices contain quick “soundbytes” of information on a variety of topics or are they an in-depth study of one topic? To be of real value, look for inservices that get to the real heart of a subject.

Quality inservices should also help learners think “outside the box” so they are prepared for the unexpected situations that will occur during client care. Pick an inservice provider who encourages critical thinking.

2. Make Sure the Inservices Are Easy to Use
Time is probably the most precious commodity for any nursing supervisor, right? A good inservice provider recognizes this and will help you save time in your busy schedule.

Look for inservices that can be utilized in a variety of ways. For example, can the inservice be offered as a self-study packet as well as a group presentation?

Videotapes may seem easy to use, but consider the fact that learners have no way to review the information later, at their own pace. Your aides may prefer an inservice which provides handouts that they can keep and reread.

Sometimes, the need for an inservice is immediate. Find out if the inservice provider can get you the materials right away, via email, when you need them.

3. Consider the Value You’re Getting for Your Money
Creating an inservice yourself can easily eat up 12 hours—or more—of your time each month. Multiply that time by your hourly salary and you’ll see that each inservice is costing hundreds of dollars! Keep this in mind when you evaluate the cost of purchasing inservices from a provider. In addition, be sure to ask these key questions:

Is the price of each inservice for a “one time” use or can the inservice be used over and over, indefinitely?

If your workplace has multiple locations, can you get a discount if you order inservices for every location?

4. Assess the Company’s Customer Service & Satisfaction
You can tell a lot about an inservice provider from their customer service. Ideally, it should be easy to get in touch with the provider’s customer service representatives. They should be willing and able to answer all your questions and should readily provide you with references. (We recommend that you take time to contact a few references. They can give you the real scoop about the quality of the inservices, how the staff reacts to them and the level of customer service you can expect after you make your purchase.)

There are a number of other factors that influence how satisfied you’ll be with an inservice provider. Of course, you’ll want any inservices you purchase to pass muster with surveyors. Ask the provider how their inservices will help meet your survey requirements…and how a surveyor will know that your aides have completed a particular inservice.

Enhancing the quality of client care is a key goal of CNA inservice education. Look to see if the available inservices provide the knowledge necessary to meet the needs of your client population. To improve client satisfaction, you should also look for topics that boost the skills of your CNA’s.

When you purchase inservices from a quality provider, your aides should look forward to each inservice, rather than dreading it as something to get through. Check to see that the inservices are presented in an engaging manner and that they encourage participation and discussion. Insist on a free sample topic that you can try out with your nursing assistants…before you make a purchase.

Have you noticed a shortage of nursing assistants? The CDC estimates that by 2030, the U.S. will need at least 25% more CNA’s than are working today. By carefully selecting a quality inservice provider, you’ll be taking an important step toward building a satisfied and professional CNA staff.

Happy Teaching,
Linda Leekley

Have you ever gathered your nursing assistants for an inservice meeting and found yourself staring at a bunch of tired, dull-eyed and disinterested people? Wouldn’t you rather be greeted by excited, eager to learn employees? Try implementing these 7 tips to freshen up your CNA inservice training:

1. Keep It Relaxed
Adults tend to take their mistakes personally and often feel embarrassed if they make an error in front of their peers. During your inservice sessions, try to keep the atmosphere relaxed and non-threatening. Sit with the group rather than standing and looking down on them. And make sure they know that you welcome questions as an opportunity for everyone to learn—including yourself.

2. Mix Things Up!
Have you assessed how your employees like to learn? Most adults usually learn best in one of three main ways:
1. Visually…by watching someone else perform a task or by looking at diagrams or pictures.
2. Actively…by physically handling pieces of equipment or by practicing a transfer technique.
3. Orally…by listening to a speaker or being talked through a procedure.
So, as you plan your teaching strategy, mix things up by incorporating all three learning styles. For example, spruce up your handouts with photos or relevant clip art. Ask for volunteers to teach part of the inservice by reading it out loud. Encourage relevant activities such as role playing. And, bring in any client care equipment that relates to the inservice topic.

3. Forget Those Boring Pre-Tests
While pre-tests have their place, you can liven things up by simply asking what your staff already knows about the subject. For example, if the inservice topic is Understanding Diabetes, ask the nursing assistants for a list of five or ten things they already know about the disease. You can write their responses on a board or flipchart. In this way, you are giving credit to your staff for their prior learning and experience. (And, if someone has a misconception about the disease, you’ll know to clear it up during the inservice.)

4. Give Self-Study a Try
Adult learners like to feel they have some control over when and how they learn. That’s why self-study inservices are effective. To check for compliance with completing the inservices, try this tip. Distribute your inservice materials for self-study, but don’t give out the quiz. Tell your nursing assistants that they can come to you (or a designee) sometime in the next two weeks to sit down and take the quiz. This prevents the quiz from being completed as an open-book test and provides a clearer sense of what your employees are learning on their own.

5. Ask Questions!
Many adults are better at talking than at listening. Use this to your favor by asking a lot of questions during your inservice meetings. Remember to avoid yes or no questions; instead, come up with questions that generate discussion. Encourage everyone in the group to give input at some point by making it fun. Give out play money to those who participate and have small prizes or snacks they can buy with their loot.

6. Keep Them Moving!
Remember to allow for at least one 2-minute stretch break during each inservice hour. You may also want to devise participatory activities (like role play) that require people to get out of their seats and move a little. This helps get the circulation going and improves learning!

7. Give Them a Reason to Learn
There are a number of ways to help motivate your nursing assistants to continue learning on the job. For example, provide frequent reminders of your state and/or workplace requirements for inservice hours. Or how about giving a small pay raise or a lump sum bonus to employees who never miss an inservice! You might also make prompt inservice completion a stepping stone to higher job status. For example, aides who remain current with their inservice requirements can be designated as preceptors for newly hired nursing assistants.

Incorporating just one of the above tips will liven up your inservice sessions. By adding all 7, your CNAs won’t know what hit them!

Happy Teaching,
Linda Leekley