Social Research, Policy, and Practice
Rohit Pradhan, PhD (he/him/his)
Associate Professor
Health Services Administration
Texas State University
San Marcos, Texas, United States
Robert Weech-Maldonado, MBA, PhD (he/him/his)
Professor
Health Services Administration
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Jane Banaszak-Holl, PhD, FGSA (she/her/hers)
Chair, Dept Health Svcs Administration
Health Services Administration
University of Alabama Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Rohit Pradhan, PhD (he/him/his)
Associate Professor
Health Services Administration
Texas State University
San Marcos, Texas, United States
Ganisher Davlyatov, PhD (he/him/his)
Assistant Professor, MHA Program Director
Health Administration and Policy
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Gregory Orewa, MSc, MBA, PhD (he/him/his)
Assistant Professor
Depatment of Public Health
University of Texas, San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Nursing home (NH) quality has been a matter of long-standing policy interest at the federal and state level, as it concerns the health and well-being of one of our most vulnerable populations. Nurse staffing intensity and skill mix have a consequential impact on NH care quality. Unfortunately, NH staffing has been marked by multitudes of challenges including high levels of turnover and absenteeism. In recent years, the utilization of agency or contract nurse staffing has increased as facilities face persistent staffing shortages exacerbated by COVID-19 which has had a disproportionate and devastating impact on NHs. The literature suggests that agency staffing negatively influences the performance of healthcare organizations due to multiple reasons including unfamiliarity with organizational culture, decline in teamwork, and the attendant high costs attached to contract staffing. However, contract nurse utilization practices and its impact on NH care has not been studied adequately, and much of the limited literature relies on datasets with limited understanding of agency staffing. The overarching goal of this symposium is to explore the antecedents and consequences of the increased utilization of contract nurse staffing. As part of the symposium, we include studies examining NH nursing skill mix and intensity, the organizational and market level factors associated with higher levels of contract staffing, and the impact of nurse contract staffing on NH staff turnover, quality, and financial performance. We believe that this series of studies would have important managerial and policy implications.
This is a Research in Quality of Care Interest Group Sponsored Symposium.
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Rohit Pradhan, PhD (he/him/his) – Texas State University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Ganisher Davlyatov, PhD (he/him/his) – University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Gregory N. Orewa, MSc, MBA, PhD (he/him/his) – University of Texas, San Antonio