Data confirm link between employee and family satisfaction

Nursing Homes, Feb, 2005 by Douglas J. Edwards

Employee satisfaction is a highly reliable measure of how families rate a nursing home's quality of care, according to the 2004 Paper of the Year in the Seniors Housing & Care Journal, an annual publication of the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industries (NIC). The article by Leslie A. Grant, PhD, director of the Center for Aging Services Management at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, is based on data generated by My InnerView, a quality measurement and management company that surveyed 10,547 family members and 11,890 employees in more than 90% of Georgia's nursing facilities. Dr. Grant found that facilities with more satisfied families also have more satisfied employees and that family satisfaction is greater in nonprofit than in for-profit facilities; in independent facilities and moderate-size chains than in other facilities; and in rural facilities than in urban and suburban facilities. Also, smaller facilities were found to have higher family and employee satisfaction than larger facilities.

To obtain a copy of the journal with the award-winning article, visit www.NIC.org or call (410) 267-0504.