Content by Keyword: Long-Term Care Workforce

The sites are restricted in the level of oversight staff they can provide to the LTC RAP, either because of structural constraints (e.g., HHAs usually perform their tasks alone in client homes), or because of resource constraints (e.g., time away from performing reimbursed job tasks with clients). The LTC RAPs visited operate with few, if any, sta

Ensuring the availability of adequate resources for operating the LTC RAPs that were visited was stated as a challenge for all of the sponsors except for Agape. However, even sponsors who faced financial challenges felt that the LTC RAP was worth the investment. These resources required for successfully operating a LTC RAP include staff for traini

Senior staff, including supervisors, more experienced long-term care workers, nurses, and trainers play a role in monitoring and testing apprentices in all five sites, as discussed on Table 4 . Shadowing, or following and observing, more senior staff as they perform tasks during early training sessions occurs at both Developmental Services and Ho

Four of the five sites visited (Developmental Services, Good Samaritan, Air Force Villages, and Agape) are considered a hybrid registered apprenticeship model of “competency-based” and “time-based” requirements for completion of their LTC RAPs. This means that completion of the apprenticeship requirements is tracked by successfully demonstrati

As shown in Table 4 , the primary goal for each of the LTC RAPs visited is to improve the skills of its long-term care workforce. Apprenticeship is recognized by the sites as a model that reinforces technical skills and fosters the interpersonal skills that are essential to the industry.Air Force Villages staff considered attentiveness and person

The five sites visited varied in their goals, program duration, completion milestones, type of instruction, and wage progression. The following section provides a detailed summary of these program features. While each of the five LTC RAPs shares the goal of improving the skills of their workforce, their program models vary in important ways. Some

Nationally, about half of long-term care apprentices in LTC RAPs since 2005 have either completed or are still participating in their program. At the two largest sites, the share of active apprentices or those who have completed of all enrollees (43% of all Developmental Services apprentices and 46% of all Good Samaritan apprentices) was less than

A large majority of the registered apprentices in all five sites who have enrolled since 2005 is women. Eighty-three percent of apprentices are women at Developmental Services, 92% at Home Care Associates, and 100% at Good Samaritan, Air Force Villages, and Agape ( Table 3 ). This distribution reflects the gender composition of the long-term care

Recruiting qualified apprentices can be challenging for all sites ( Table 2 ). Human resources staff members at Developmental Services noted that while they can consistently hire 25-30 apprentices a month, they never turn away qualified applicants and always have vacancies to fill. Most sites mentioned that the greatest challenge is finding appren

All sites provide a wage progression as a participation incentive for their LTC RAP ( Table 2 ). At Developmental Services, wages for new job entrants begin at $7.25 per hour, and increase by at least $1.25 per hour after the initial apprenticeship training is completed. Developmental Services does not offer a wage increase with the completion of

As shown in Table 2 , all sites advertise for new hires through typical job resources such as newspapers and the Internet, and at job fairs. Staff at Developmental Services, Home Care Associates, and Good Samaritan noted that the apprenticeship is a major attraction for job applicants. Apprentices at Home Care Associates suggested that word-of-mo

Recruitment of apprentices is a key part of the LTC RAPs visited. Some sites recruit apprentices from the local labor market through traditional hiring methods such as newspaper advertisements and job fairs whereas others select apprentices from employees within the organization. The characteristics of apprentices also vary across the sites visite

The different characteristics of the sites influence the design and operation of each of the LTC RAPs. In particular, the sites’ experience with training prior to creating the LTC RAP, interest in developing career ladders or better quality jobs, the size of the program, and the length of time and experience with the registered apprenticeship mod

All five LTC RAPs provide training in specific core competencies to mark progress and completion of the apprenticeship. The core competency trainings developed for the LTC RAPs are designed to ensure that apprentices learn the skills needed to provide high-quality, long-term care, combining the necessary knowledge and experience in personal care a

The five sites visited differ along the site selection criteria discussed -- program size, geographic region, occupational focus, and apprenticeship model ( Table 1 ). Four of the sites are private, not-for-profit providers (Developmental Services, Good Samaritan, Home Care Associates, and Air Force Villages), while Agape is a for-profit provider.

To provide an understanding of the LTC RAPs selected for study, a short description of each program is provided. More detailed descriptions of the LTC RAPs are provided in Appendix B of this report. Developmental Services, Inc.

The interviews conducted with program staff, apprentices, and partners during the site visits to five LTC RAPs -- Developmental Services, Inc. (Indiana), the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society (Idaho), Home Care Associates (Pennsylvania), Air Force Villages, Inc. (Texas), and Agape Senior (South Carolina) -- offered an in-depth understand

The site selection process used four criteria to identify a dozen potential sites to visit. To best inform the most rigorous potential evaluation design options, the size of the program served as the primary site selection criterion, with the sites having the largest numbers of apprentices entering programs making the initial selection list. To ob

To assess whether the registered apprenticeship model is an effective approach for training long-term care workers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the DOL have funded a study to better understand LTC RAP characteristics to inform possible design options for future evaluations of LTC RAPs. To develop evaluations, HHS and

Improving the skills of the long-term care workforce is often proposed as a strategy to improve the quality of care in long-term care settings (Institute of Medicine, 2008). Long-term care workers include certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in nursing homes, home health aides (HHAs) working for home health agencies, health support specialists (HSS