BACKGROUND: Chronic underfunding of the long-term care sector, coupled with increased complexity of care, has deteriorated working conditions and contributed to severe staffing shortages of healthcare workers globally. While previous reviews have examined the association between long-term care staffing and care outcomes for residents, none have examined specifically how staffing structures affect the care-workers themselves.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to investigate how staffing structures impact the quality of work-life, work-related outcomes of care-workers and the context that affects staffing decisions.
METHODS: A narrative scoping review of primary empirical peer-reviewed literature was conducted to examine how long-term care staffing structures impact quality of work-life and work outcomes of care-workers in OECD countries. PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus databases were searched for relevant articles published within the past 10 years. Searches yielded 4561 unique articles, which were independently screened by pairs of reviewers, of which 76 articles were included. Data were extracted and synthesized to examine the ways in which staffing structures impact the workforce, what structures existed, and how they came to be.
RESULTS: Contextual factors shaped staffing decisions in long-term care, including both organizational/regulatory practices and external issues. These included market-based ideologies, increased care complexity, regulatory requirements, COVID-19, and organizational fiscal austerity, which affected the quality of work-life and work outcomes for care-workers. These factors contributed to chronic understaffing, restructuring of skill mix, and greater reliance on agency workers. Consequences for care-workers included work intensification, unpaid labour, and strained team dynamics, particularly where registered nurse oversight was limited. While some homes developed adaptive strategies to buffer these effects, inadequate staffing often eroded job quality, undermined teamwork, and contributed to job dissatisfaction, turnover, presenteeism, and adverse physical and psychological health outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: This review shows that staffing structures have consequences for quality of work-life and work outcomes. A reliance on lean staffing eventually destabilizes the workforce, perpetuating recruitment and retention issues. This review suggests that to create and maintain a strong long-term care workforce, sufficient staffing with the right skills and competencies need to be a priority in improvement initiatives.
REGISTRATION: Not registered.