CNA Career Ladder (long term care)

[KimT111]

Is anyone here familiar with or is your facility using the CNA Career Ladder (level) ? We are trying to develop one at our facility, and I'd love to talk with someone who has any info. BTW - I work in long term care (CCRC) as a nurse manager for Personal Care. We also have 2 skilled units. - TIA

[Tweezer93]

Please elaborate?

[KimT111]

It is a way for CNA's to advance in their jobs without going on to nursing school.

A new CNA with less than one year experience is a level one.

A CNA with 2 years experience is a level 2.

A CNA with 3 years experience, good performance appraisals, demonstrates teamwork, is independent,a leader, good at orienting new employees, etc.

Each level has more responsibilities, and a higher rate of pay.

In order to apply for level 3 you need to submit an application, complete a questionaire about why you want to be at level 3, have an interview with your supervisor and the staff educator. Once this is done a panel of people (Administrator, DON, Nurse Managers review all applications, review the employees file for any disciplinary action, absence, lateness, etc. and make a decision.

Once selected for level 3 the CNA will need to complete a series of trainings, tests, mentoring, etc. After this is done they go to a higher pay rate and have to perform the duties of a level 3 CNA.

There is more to it, but that is it in a nut shell. We are just starting this at our facility, and the CNA's are super excited about it !

[valifay]

Where I used to work they had levels based on your performance. All were CNA's, and if I remember correctly, the ladder went cna's at the bottom, then floor leaders above them (really not much different, but got paid a bit more and made more decisions about care that wasn't nursing related like baths and stuff), then there were shift coordinators and cna trainers. I think the trainers only got paid more when they trained though. You could aslo relate it to levels, but I would recommend it on job performance instead of years of service. Obviously ranked after a couple performance reviews and info from nurses and residents. I have seen great cna's that are pretty new and really crappy cna's that have been working for years. And its just my belief that you should get paid for a job well done, not a job done for a long time.