Table 1.
Staff Categories | Personal and Support Care Staff | Nursing Care | Medical Care | Rehabilitation and Recreational Care | Others | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RN | RPN | NP | PCP | Specialists | PT | OT | RT | Social Care | Clergy | Management | ||
Present in-person before COVID-19 | Y (all) | Y (all) | 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 | 1, 7, and 8 | Y (all) | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 | 1,2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 | 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 | 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 | 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 | Y (all) |
Nature of employment | Part-time/zero hour scheduling Low wages |
Few hours a week or month | Churches offer service, no remuneration from LTCHs | |||||||||
- Employed by LTCH | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | 1, 6, 7, and 8 | √ | √ | √ | |||
- External contractor/self-employed | √ | √ | √ | √ | 1 and 7 | √ | √ | |||||
Present during first wave of COVID-19 | Y (all) | Y (all) | 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8 | 1, 7, 8 | 1, 4, 7, and 8 | N | 1, 6, and 8 | 7 and 8 | 1 and 8 | 2 | 1, 6, and 8 | Y (all) |
- IP | √ | √ | √ | √ | 6, 8 1 | √ 1 | √ 1 | √ 1 | √1 | |||
- Virtual | 3 2 | √ | Mostly | 1 | √ | Sometimes virtually present | ||||||
- DNA/absent | Sometimes absent due to shortage | √ | 2, 4, 5, and 7 | 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 | 3, 5, and 7 | 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 | 3, 4, and 7 | |||||
Overall impact of short staffing | ||||||||||||
- Missed basic care | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | ||||
- Reduced care quality | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
- Untenable workload | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | |||
- Less data collection and reporting | √ | |||||||||||
- Increase reliance on agency staff | √ | √ | √ |
1 Canada; 2 China; 3 England; 4 Norway; 5 Spain; 6 Sweden; 7 Switzerland; 8 United States of America; Y: present; N: not present; RN: registered nurse; RPN: registered practical nurse; PCP: primary care physician; PT: physiotherapist; OT: occupational therapist; RT: recreation therapist; V: virtual; IP: in-person; DNA: deemed non-essential/absent; LTCH: long-term care home.
1Not present always due to sickness and quarantine.
2residential care homes.