Educational partnerships set pace for recruitment
Wednesday December 12, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
For several years, Elmwood Place in London has partnered with post-secondary schools to open doors for students pursuing nursing careers.

Considering the importance the long-term care sector places on recruitment and retention, these partnerships are valuable to the long-term goals of the home, says director of care Trang Pham.

While the Central Park Lodges-owned home has partnered with other schools over the years, the University of Western Ontario, Fanshawe College and a local adult education program are currently the major players in educational partnerships, notes Pham.

As part of the partnerships, the University of Western Ontario sends registered nurse candidates, as well as students from the university’s occupational therapy and physiotherapy curriculums. Fanshawe College provides the home with students enrolled in its registered practical nursing program, as well as its personal support worker program.

Every school session, about a dozen students from these educational institutions come to Elmwood Place to get hands-on experience and a feel for what it’s like to work in a long-term care home.

With the baby boomers approaching their senior years, the need for more staff members in long-term care is more evident now than ever before. To fill these positions, the long-term care sector needs to form partnerships with educational institutions in an effort to showcase all the positive aspects of working in long-term care.

For Pham, one way to get the message out is by going into the community and letting everyone know about the difference long-term care makes in people’s lives. Forging partnerships with post-secondary schools is one method of bridging the gap.

“I’m going out and really looking at advertising long-term care in the community, and really talking about working in long-term care,” she says.

Pham notes that from her experience, there are misconceptions many nursing students have about working in the long-term care sector. Often, these misconceptions relate to the workload nurses face in long-term care.

“At the RN level, they’re responsible for 100 beds, but there are others working underneath them,” says Pham, adding that RNs have RPNs giving out medications and the health-care aides doing hands-on work with residents.

RNs in long-term care homes, she points out, are mainly focused on emergency assessment and leadership skills.

“I think this needs to be advertised in that sense; that they’re not looking after 100 beds,” says Pham.