We are headed for a severe shortage of caregivers in the aging care profession, according to Paul Osterman, professor of human resources and management at MIT’s Sloan School and author of Who Will Care For Us: Long-term Care and the Long-Term Workforce (Russell Sage Foundation, 2017). A quick Google search reveals numbers as high as a shortage of 3.8 million by 2030.

CNAonline.com, powered by Academic Platforms, seeks to disrupt the aging care space with its unique model to help facilities recruit, develop and retain qualified, CNA candidates.

Recruiting, developing and retaining quality clinical staff is a challenge that every aging care facility in the U.S. faces. Aging care facilities must have CNAs to keep the doors open. But the lack of qualified instructors, especially in certain locations creates a vacuum for facilities and they end up pulling one of their limited RNs or LPNs off the floor for training.

At the same time, many people are underemployed in this country and would like the opportunity to enter the medical field, yet either don’t have the funds or the time to enroll in traditional courses. And because online classes still need to offer hands-on, in person clinical skills training, there is a need for physical space for the skills courses.

CNAonline.com aims to fill all three needs and serve as a matching service to bring students to the facilities, who can then provide the space for skills training, and also scholarship funds, for the classes. This approach brings together aging care facilities and students who would like to be on a career path in the medical field, yet don’t have the resources, either time or money, to go the traditional route. CNAonline.com provides online courses that the students can take when it suits their schedule as well as in person skills training. The facilities who partner with CNAonline.com to provide the space for the skills training are also benefiting because they are now able to hire licensed CNAs who trained in their facility.

CNAonline.com’s course is available online 24/7 and can be taken via smartphone, tablets or personal computers. Clinical skills training is offered in person for hands-on learning. CNAonline.com uses the nationally-acclaimed book, How to be a Nurse Assistant, written by Jeanne Boschert, the primary textbook used by the state affiliates of AHCA. The book is entirely accessible as an e-book. And although the textbook is approved in 50 states, each state requires separate approval to use the e-version. Currently there are eight states in the continental U.S. that have approved the e-book: Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Vermont.

Are you a facility interested in partnering with us? Please visit our website, https://www.cnaonline.com/facilities and let us help you.