Why Licensed Nursing Home Administrators Are in More Demand Than Ever

There was something that felt post-apocalyptic about the beginning of the pandemic. 

Look no further than New York, where the Cuomo Administration mandated that assisted care facilities take in COVID-19 patients from hospitals to lighten their proverbial load. 

Unfortunately, as per The Cut, one such facility – Yonkers Gardens – felt an adverse impact of the state government’s order almost immediately.

Right away, due to fear of the virus, several Yonkers Gardens staff members stopped arriving to work. As such, the aides who did stick around were left scrambling and without enough PPE. In addition, as few as two staff members would find themselves taking care of 30 elderly residents on their own. 

From there, a vast portion of residents became incredibly sick. And eventually, 19 Yonkers Gardens residents died due to COVID-19. 

This story was similar across New York and the country as a whole. COVID-19’s damage to assisted care facilities is one of the most tragic and troubling pandemic trends. 

With all that said, there’s a need for a solution. After all, nursing homes are still an essential part of society, and they aren’t going anywhere. Improvements must be made, and that starts at the top: 

Licensed Nursing Home Administrators Will Help Solve Nursing Home Problems During COVID-19.

The deck is stacked against nursing homes right now. Staffing shortages are about as frequent as virus outbreaks. In fact, even as COVID-19 cases drop during the vaccine rollouts, assisted care facilities have struggled to recover their workforce more than any other area of the healthcare sector. 

It’s only through committed and dedicated leadership of licensed nursing home administrators (LNHAs) that the industry can come out the other side, stronger than ever before. 

Through the expertise and insights of an LNHA, it’s possible to turn nursing homes across the nation into safe and welcoming environments for staff and residents. And this notion should ring true whether there’s a pandemic or not. 

What Types of Challenges Face an LNHA? 

This blog has already spoken about the staffing shortages and virus outbreaks plaguing many nursing homes. 

But the problems don’t end there. Many acute care facilities (a nursing home specializing in rehab) refused patients from hospitals throughout the pandemic due to concerns about the virus. 

According to industry experts, this type of problem indicates post-acute care administrators being out of synch with hospital administrators. This type of disharmony caused patients to experience delays in receiving rehab treatments and extended their time in the hospital when they didn’t need to be there. 

There’s a silver lining here: the COVID-19 crisis is a live-and-learn type of situation for LNHAs. 

Namely, the pandemic has shed light on the need for these leaders to have contingencies for the worst-case scenario and work in conjunction with hospital administration. Taking these lessons and ironing out the inefficiencies will prove beneficial in the long term. 

What Are the Main Responsibilities of an LNHA? 

Utica College describes the following list of LNHA responsibilities: 

  •       Learning the physical and psychological effects of aging to help implement practical, empathetic nursing care, drug administration, and rehab to improve a resident’s quality of life
  •       Insightfully dictate how residents can benefit from help with everyday activities (e.g., eating, bathing)
  •       High-level communication skills and a finely tuned bedside manner to help interact with patients suffering from mental impairments
  •       Being a liaison between residents and doctors
  •       Navigating the emotional dynamics of residents transitioning into nursing care
  •       Managing nursing home staff to ensure they’re appropriately educated and compliant with standards while supporting them with empathy and understanding 

Are you looking for a licensed nursing home administrator to help with your clinic’s pandemic recovery? Then contact HCRI today for the best available LNHA candidates on the job market.