Group Assignment: Community Engagement Plan

TOPIC
Staff shortage in Chartwell Long-term Care and finding solutions to overcome it

INTRODUCTION

According to the report, there is a critical shortage of personal support workers (PSWs)

across the province to care for the growing number of residents. This problem could be

magnified as more beds open this year.

Talking about Chartwell Westmount Long Term Care, our two team members (Vaibhavi

and Jishitha) are working there, which makes us more aware of the whole scenario of a

shortage of staff they are facing most of the time. Residents regularly miss baths and
showers because of staff shortages. It requires two people to use lifts to transfer

residents out of bed safely, and increasingly, the second pair of hands is unavailable.

Even some people who receive care from PSWs become violent and hit them, which is

dangerous for both the resident and the PSW (felt by our team members). In this

situation, there need to be at least two people, which they don't have because they are

short. Staff also described the emotional support of residents as “non-existent” and said

there is often no time to brush their teeth, shave or care for their nails.

Most PSWs in this situation burn out from overwork and occasionally find their work

intellectually tiring. In their daily work of providing care and support to senior citizens,

personal support workers (PSWs) face various difficulties. PSWs reported during this

project that they frequently feel underappreciated and underutilized as caretakers in the

LTC industry. They noted that they encounter prejudice, stigma, violence, and harmful

interactions at their places of employment and in the broader society.

INFORM CONSULT INVOLVE

 Providing the  Service providers  Chartwell long-

information to the such as nurses, term care

public and recruiting teams,  Ontario Health

international and management team

nurses teams of  PSW chief Co-

 Management and Chartwell long- Ordinator in

WHO
administrative term care. Chartwell
 department of the  Municipal and  Personal

care home provincial Support

 Provincial government. workers

government  Families of the

 Nursing students patients

and aboriginal  Other nearby

people prefer to long-term care to

work in a care compare their

home if training is strategies.

provided.

 Aggressively  Meetings with the  Perform staff

recruiting and current staff and friendly

retaining management to atmosphere

healthcare discuss the new  Meeting with

workers plans and PSWs to

 Increase the developments to coordinate

salary range. be implemented. duties and

 Elevate the  Meeting with reduce the

organization’s patients and absent calls

HOW culture family members to from

 Providing training understand their employees

for healthcare difficulties and  Encourage

 workers. release them in staff referral

 Virtual sessions the media to catch programs

with healthcare the eye of society  Hold the

providers and governing present staff

 Awareness bodies. with staff

advertisement in  Monthly audit to encouragemen

social media. know the staff and t and perks

 Meeting with patient ratio.

nursing school  Implement new

management and strategies to

the Ontario benefit the current

government to Cut staff and attract

wait times for new staff or

internationally nurses.

trained nurses to

obtain their license

(Omstead, 2022,

para.12)

October 20, 2022- November 10, 2022- December 5, 2022-

WHEN November 5, 2022 December 2, 2022 December 20, 2022

 Highlight the  Introduction of  Quality care

issues caused by new ideas and should be

 staff shortage. strategies improved

 Patients get high-  Awareness to the  Reason for

quality care at the public, staff shortage

OUTCOME
right time. governments, identified and
S
 Ontario and healthcare should correct

government will providers about

be more aware of the current

the current situation

situation and  Learn more about

“work to bolster the functioning of

the workforce long-term care

capacity, homes and the

including bonuses reason for staff

and funds to shortage.

recruit nurses to  Collect the data

target areas on patient staff

across the shortage, and

province”. can be used for

(Omstead, 2022, further

para. 20) improvements

accordingly

 More funds and

bonuses from the

 government

CONCLUSION

As a team, we looked into the PSW shortage currently faced by Chartwell long-term

care. The shortage of staff caused a feeling of being underappreciated and overworked,

an increasingly aging population, and declining fertility rates. (Wilson,2022). Staff

shortage can be increased in various ways, from growing the pay to involving medical

students from multiple departments to actively contribute towards labour shortage,

which is summarized in Who. How and outcomes. This would ultimately lead to having a

better workforce and preventing burnout.

REFERENCES

Omstead. J, (2022 July 5). healthcare workers urge Ontario government to act as staff

shortages prompt ER closures.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-health-care-workers-urge-

ontario-government-to-act-as-staff-shortages/

Wilson. J,(2022). Canada labour Shortage in long term challenge,

https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/recruitment-and-staffing/canadas-labour-

shortage-will-be-long-term-challenge
Bing News. (n.d.). Shortage Of Staff In Long Term Care –Retrieved October 9, 2022,

https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Shortage+Of+Staff+In+Long+Term+Care