What a nursing assistant will tell us…if we ask

A friend recently forwarded me an update to a story first reported in the Washington Post in May 2009 about a home care nursing assistant, Marilyn Daniel. (Here’s the update). Using quotes and photographs, the author describes a typical day of visits—from transportation challenges to detailed, moving stories of a few of her patients. It caused me to pause and reflect upon the caregivers closest to our geriatric patients. Nursing assistants provide the greatest amount of direct care to our patients whether in hospitals, nursing homes, or homes. For me, this article aptly notes the challenges of the job, the importance of continuity of care, and the difficulty for home health aides when given a next “case” right after a long standing relationship with a patient ends (or perhaps when hospice comes in and negotiations can’t be reached for keeping the same home health aide). The audience here at GeriPal is one that knows these issues well, but when a photographer/writer captures it so movingly, I can’t help but call attention to it.

It is projected that there will be a 50% growth in home health aide positions in the next ten years because of the expansion of home care for our geriatric population (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). How will we work with home health aides to increase retention? How can we argue for better compensation for such a demanding (physically and emotionally) position? And for those of us involved in geriatric palliative care, how can we ensure that palliative care education is offered and encouraged for home health aides?

In the larger picture, offering continuing education and acknowledging specialized training is a start. I know that programs such as ELNEC-Geriatric include specific content and attention to nursing assistants (self disclosure – I’m part of the team offering this course in Philadelphia in March-link above is for this, but see * below for more details). And in recognition of additional education and experience in palliative care, HPNA (through NBCHPN) offers certification for nursing assistants. These are a start—as was the public attention given to the role in the Washington Post articles. In my own practice, the same as with most of you I assume, I often elicit opinions and thoughts from the home health aides caring for an individual. But in the smaller, every day picture is this enough? How we can better include nursing assistants in palliative care teams? I don’t have the answer, but I do think that as we continue to consider how geriatric palliative care is delivered, we all need to advocate for nursing assistants as valued members of the interdisciplinary team.

* ELNEC-Geriatric Train the Trainer Course, March 9-10, Philadelphia, PA

Nursing CEUs (12) offered and we’re working on the Social Work CEUs

Sponsored by University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Penn Wissahickon Hospice and NewCourtland.

http://www.pennmedicine.org/homecare/conference/end-of-life-nursing-education/

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