Friday 14 November 2014

Some findings from round 1 of the survey

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to round 1 of the survey. We present below some results


Respondents

We received 163 responses to round 1 of the survey. Just over 30% of respondents were care home nurses, and a similar number were care home managers. Several care home nurses were also acting as managers. One in ten of the respondents  were researchers or nurse educators in higher education. The remainder were health care professionals working in the community (29%), including GPs, hospice doctors, elderly care consultants, district nurses, specialist nurses, psychologists, podiatrists, community mental health nurses and nurse practitioners.

We received responses from all four countries in the UK, with the majority of responses coming from England.


The nurse in the care home

Almost three quarters (73%) of participants strongly agreed that registered nurses in care homes need to have a particular set of skills, knowledge, competence and experience in order to provide high quality care for older residents.
The three responsibilities of the care home nurse that were most often ranked as top priority by respondents were:
  • Promoting dignity, personhood and wellbeing
  • Enhancing quality of life
  • Ensuring patient safety

The three continuing professional development (CPD) needs that were most often given the highest priority by respondents were:
  • Personal care (for example nutrition, continence care)
  • Dementia care
  • Managing long term conditions

Continuing Professional Development

Almost half of respondents (49%) felt that opportunities for CPD were not regularly available to all care home nurses. However, one third (33%) disagreed with this and considered CPD opportunities to be available.
The three barriers to CPD that were most often given the highest priority by respondents were:
  • Staff shortages / lack of cover
  • Time constraints
  • Lack of funding

The three methods of delivering education and training to care home nurses that were top ranked most often were:
  • On the job / opportunistic training
  • Formal courses / qualifications
  • Seminars and workshops

The future workforce

Almost half of respondents (49%) felt that undergraduate pre-registration nurse education does not provide care home nurses with the required skills, knowledge, competencies and experience to deliver high quality care to older residents.

Just over one third (35%) of respondents felt that care homes provide supportive learning opportunities for pre-registration student nurses, which encourage them to return to work in care homes later in their careers.

There were mixed views from respondents on whether the care home industry offers challenging and rewarding career pathways for newly registered nurses: 41% agreed and 44% disagreed.

We received a large number of additional comments from respondents relating to the future workforce. We will explore some of the key issues in round 2 of the survey, and are in the process of analysing these open responses in more depth.


Round 2 of the survey for this project will open  on Tuesday 18th November and will be available for one week. You can access the second survey by 

clicking this link.

We will post a summary of the findings from round 2 on the blog after the closing date (Tuesday 25th November).

Thank you for your continued help and support with this project.