Report: Certified Nursing Assistant Programs in CA - A Survey of Community Colleges

Angela Marks, MSEd, and Susan Chapman, PhD, RN, FAAN of the UCSF Center for Health Professions have just released their report, Certified Nursing Assistant Programs in California: A Survey of Community Colleges. The study was commissioned by the Health Workforce Initiative (HWI), a program of the Division of Workforce and Economic Development within the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, to gain a better understanding of the status of community college Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) programs and the potential impact of faculty and staff recruitment challenges on their ability to offer and successfully administer CNA programs. Following are the authors’ key findings and recommended next steps:

 

Key Findings

  1. Community colleges currently do not have the capacity to meet CNA student demand.
  2. Shortages of clinical training sites present an ongoing challenge for CNA programs.
  3. Upcoming program director retirement projections present an urgent problem.
  4. While most schools have been able to retain program directors and instructors for several years, hiring needs for at least one instructor arise frequently.
  5. Federal and state regulatory guidelines regarding program director and instructor long-term care experience are believed to increasingly impact schools’ ability to recruit program directors and instructors.
  6. Aside from regulatory issues, community colleges face other challenges in recruiting personnel.
  7. Community colleges recognize the impact of challenges in personnel recruitment on their students.
 

Recommended Next Steps

  1. Identify and engage key stakeholders around survey findings, including sharing survey results.
  2. Create stakeholder informed suggestions for changes in program and director requirements.
  3. Engage stakeholders to develop a strategy and policy discussion about program director and instructor regulatory guidelines at state and federal level.
  4. Create opportunities for community colleges to share best practice in addressing CNA program challenges as interim solutions.

 

 

© 2014 Center for the Health Professions at the University of California, San Francisco