Be In the Know!

Last week, the results of a Penn State study on occupational injuries were revealed.  It should come as no surprise that nursing assistants and home health aides were high on the “injured list”.  However, the researchers found that on-the-job injuries caused a lot more than just a few aches and pains.  They also led to increased CNA turnover and, potentially, a bad reputation in the community!  Here’s what Deirdre McCaughey, assistant professor of health policy and administration had to say:

“In our research, we saw a cascading effect.  Employees who had no training or did not believe their training prepared them well had more injuries.  Those employees were also much less likely than non-injured employees to recommend their organization as a place at which to work or seek services.”

Here are some other findings of the study:

• Employees who felt ill-prepared were three times more likely to be injured than employees who were well-trained.
• Employees who felt poorly supervised were also more likely to be injured–not just once, but multiple times.
• Cutting back on training to shave the budget increased employees’ injury risk and turnover rates.  In the long run, this boosted costs rather than saving money!

You’ve probably experienced it firsthand.  When money gets tight, education is one of the first things to go…especially at the nursing assistant level.  But are you really saving money?  What are the injury and turnover rates at your workplace?  If asked, do you think your CNAs would consider themselves both well-trained and well-supervised? Would they recommend your organization as a place to work or as a place to receive care?

At In the Know, we strive to provide quality CNA continuing education to meet every budget.  If you’d like to discuss how you can maintain a top-notch team of (healthy) nursing assistants please give us a call at 877-809-5515.  With more than 130 inservice topics, including modules on safe transfers, back care, the CNA/Nurse relationship and personal wellness, we can meet your CNAs’ learning needs.

Happy Teaching!

Linda

Your CNAs make observations about their clients all day long.  Therefore, it’s incredibly important that each of your CNAs know what, when and how to report what they see.  Not only should your nurse aides know the procedure for reporting and documenting client care, they should also be aware of what observations are considered abnormal.  After completing our new inservice topic, “Recognizing and Reporting Abnormal Observations”, your nurse aides will be able to:

• Distinguish between normal and abnormal observations in their clients.
• Identify the specific course of action to take with each abnormal observation they may encounter.
• List at least three abnormal observations they might make in regards to:  vital signs, mental status, nutrition and pain.
• Distinguish between objective and subjective observations.
• Demonstrate the ability to recognize and properly report abnormal observations in their daily work.

Would you like to see a sample page from the inservice? Click here to view the PDF file.

Interested in ordering this topic? Click here to visit our website.  If you would prefer to order over the phone, call us toll-free at 877.809.5515 and one of our helpful associates will be happy to assist you!

It’s great to know that our inservices are helping health care organizations achieve measurable outcomes. Many customers tell us that it’s a “trickle down” effect; they save time and money with our inservices; the nurse aides add to their knowledge and skill set; and the clients benefit from being cared for by well-prepared staff.

Here are some more ways that In the Know customers have benefited from using our inservices:

“When I ordered ‘Understanding Depression’ from In the Know, I was really thinking of my employees. Gas prices were very high and it didn’t look like we would be having a increase in Medicaid reimbursement. However, since presenting the inservice, I have noticed in our aides weekly notes that they are more aware of their clients’ moods.”
Norma B.
American Healthcare Services
Mount Airy, North Carolina

“We love the ‘Importance of Activity for the Elderly’ inservice from In the Know.. We really believe that keeping our residents active, alert and stimulated mentally as well as physically provides a better quality of life. New staff members have a hard time recognizing the importance of this. However, once we have them do this inservice we notice a huge change in their attitude and we see them get more involved with the activities. Some employees even come to us with new activity ideas that they would like to try. This inservice has really made a difference!”
Teri S.
Latter Days Assisted Living
Santaquin, Utah

“To assist our CNAs in stepping up, we cultivated a group of nursing assistant preceptors. We utilized a number of In the Know inservices as their course content. This helped the preceptors become the ‘go to’ people for the other CNAs. The preceptors provide information and are seen as an ‘on unit’ resource. They also take responsibility for insuring that all the nursing assistants also complete the In the Know modules.”
Stephanie W.
Deborah Heart & Lung Center
Browns Mill, New Jersey

Are your CNA inservices helping you overcome challenges with your nursing assistants and/or client care? If not, they should be! Give us a call today at 877-809-5515 and tell us about a current problem you’d like to solve. We’ll help you find the best solution…guaranteed!

Take care,
Linda

Linda Leekley BS, RN
CEO, In the Know, Inc.