We are a large assisted living facility currently transitioning to person centered care, utilizing CNA's as Medicine technitions, and attempting to move away from the institutional medical model. I would hope we would become a true Eden Alternative Community, but we are taking one step at a time.
I would like to know what the usual staffing pattern is in a Eden Alternative home when utilizing the universal worker concept?
Any input would be apprecitated.

Hello!
We are an Eden Alternative Eldercare Community(SNF)that makes home for approximately 180 Elders. Within the past year we have deleted "shifts" from our way of life. We have permanent assigmnent of staff and are team-scheduling (also known as self-scheduling) according to when our Elders' needs arise. Our streets (units) cannot have like staffing patterns--all are unique to the Elders' needs in each neighborhood. www.rollingfields.com

Yours in Eden,
Wendy

This is a great question. The 'staffing pattern' should be as Wendy suggested, it should be according to the elder's needs. Most nursing homes moving toward a more versatile worker approach begin by consistently assigning the CNAs to care for the same elders together as a team. They then move on to add in the nurses, then housekeepers, activity staff, and social services. To become versatile workers, these consistently assigned staff are cross-trained to fill this new role. Eventually as the home progresses on the culture change journey, other staff (dietary, business office, maintenance, etc) are assigned to the care teams although they may not spend the bulk of their time in the neighborhood or household. What is interesting is the amount of cross-training that happens. It should be an agreement between the elders and the care partners. Some elders do not want to have everyone involved with caring for them to be the person who sees them in their most intimate care moments. There always needs to be balance and respect for privacy as we move toward versatile workers. The beauty of moving in this direction is that the elder's needs can be responded to in the moment rather than having to say "I'll go get someone to help you." That is a very powerful commitment for the organization's leaders to make.