Best Practice Selection Criteria

National Long-Term Care Workforce Initiative Criteria for the Selection of Best Practices

1. Each practice will be an example of at least one of the following categories of programs or strategies put in place by educational and service providers. It is important to point out that these categories are not mutually exclusive, and that some practices will fit into more than one category. It should also be noted that the examples given below are for illustrative purposes, and are not intended to provide a comprehensive list of practices that will fall into any category.

   1. Recruitment and selection. This category includes successful strategies to recruit and screen workers for training programs and for positions as direct-care workers. Some examples of this category are outreach strategies that inform people about the career potential and internal rewards of being a caregiver, community college partnerships, screening techniques and client in-home visits prior to recruitment.

   2. Education and training of direct-care workers. This category includes pre-entry soft or life skills training, entry-level training as well as specialized training beyond state requirements. Worker readiness training, cultural competence training, entry-level and advanced clinical training, orientation programs and peer-mentoring will be included here. These training programs will also be included if they are components of career paths.

   3. Workplace strategies to create quality jobs and quality care. Career paths that offer advancement as direct care workers, aide to nurse career paths, peer-mentoring, and non-monetary reward and recognition programs will be included here.

   4. Caregiving strategies to create quality jobs and quality care. Consistent assignment, work re-design as well as specific care-giving practices that include direct-care workers will be included here.

   5. Leadership, management and supervisory training and practices. Supervisory training and organizational development and culture change activities will be included here.

   6. Wage enhancements, benefits and worker supports. This category includes strategies to provide workers with health insurance, child-care, transportation, case management and other support resources. Efforts to enhance wages will also be included here, as will partnerships that include welfare-to-work agencies in collaborative approaches to supporting workers.

   
   
   

2. The practice must have been operational for at least six months before the time of documentation.

   
   
   

3. There must be written documentation about the procedures used in implementation of the practice, as well as a contact person who is available for additional information. Requests will also be made for articles and other materials that were used in the development of the practice.

   
   
   

4. There must be some quantitative or qualitative evidence of the results of the practice, even if this information was not collected as part of an organized evaluative design. Wherever possible this information should be available from the perspectives of both management and direct care workers.

   This evidence will include such information as:

   • Reduction in use of per-diem or temporary staff from staffing agencies,
   • Reduction in paraprofessional vacancies or improved retention rates,
   • Improved relationships between workers and supervisors,
   • Improved relationships between workers and clients or residents, including decreased grievances from family members and positive feedback from residents or clients.
   • Improvement in quality of care indicators related to paraprofessional skills or services (e.g. weight loss, falls, retrains, pressure ulcers,)
   • Improved recruitment to, and completion of, training programs,
   • Improved direct-care worker satisfaction with the workplace.
   
   
   
5. Efforts will be made to collect practices in all types of long-term care settings and types of paraprofessional direct-care workers. These will include home- and community- based settings, long-term care facilities, assisted living and other residential services and consumer-directed models. Practices will be collected from not-for-profit and for-profit providers, and from all geographic regions of the country.