DD Council Nursing Workforce Shortage Study
Project Description:
Ohio's developmental disabilities community has long struggled with a shortage of nurses to provide care to people with developmental disabilities living in the family home. The pandemic, coupled with significant pay increases for travel nurses, has heightened the nursing workforce shortage crisis across the state. Families are having to consider out-of-home options for their loved ones with developmental disabilities, which range from small private providers to large ICFs, and state developmental centers.
Objectives
The overarching objective of this study is to assess and report on the home care nursing crisis and formulate recommendations to key stakeholders to reduce the nursing workforce shortage in the field of developmental disabilities. There are 5 goals of this study:
1. Identify barriers to accessing nursing care/nurses to work in the ID/DD field – family perspective.
2. Identify barriers to accessing nursing care/nurses to work in the ID/DD field – agency/provider perspective.
3. Summarize and report on how the nursing workforce shortage within the field of ID/DD has impacted individuals with ID/DD and their families.
4. Summarize and report on how the nursing workforce shortage within the field of ID/DD has impacted ID/DD agencies/providers.
5. Summarize and report on nurses' & student nurses' perspective on entering/staying in the ID/DD workforce.
To accomplish this, the project team will survey and conduct focus groups with:
1. Agencies and independent providers regarding their experience with the workforce shortage.
2. Families who need/use nurses for the care of their loved ones will be surveyed regarding how they are coping with the nursing shortage and identify specific obstacles they are encountering.
3. Nurses and nursing students to gain insight in their experiences and expectations regarding working in the field of developmental disabilities.
Once we have completed collecting the information from our proposed surveys, we will analyze these data for themes, identify the potential barriers that exist, and formulate recommendations on how to remedy the current nursing workforce shortage in Ohio.
We will produce a final report that will summarize the individuals/groups consulted, provide a summary of the results, and contain a list of recommendations. Once the report is completed, we will develop a "clear language" executive summary and submit to the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council as a final deliverable.
We will also coordinate the dissemination of our final report through social media and electronic media to Ohio stakeholders as well as key national groups.
Core Function(s):
Performing Research or Evaluation
Area of Emphasis
Health-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities
Target Audience:
Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Legislators/Policy Makers
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Rural/Remote, Urban
Primary Target Audience Geographic Descriptor:
State
COVID-19 Related Data:
N/A
