I'll start and then invite Josette, who has experience on the front lines in implementing some of this, to comment.
First of all, the kinds of tools that are coming from the projects we've talked about are directed specifically to health-care workers in the long-term care setting. It is these kinds of tools--but perhaps even more importantly, the opportunity to learn about the processes that prevent elder abuse--that are having the greatest effect.
By that, I mean that we generally tend to think that any of our front-line health care providers need to spend 100% of their on-duty time providing care. In actual fact, in this knowledge age we need to take them away from their care-providing duties for some small periods of time to give them this kind of education and these kinds of resources. These projects generally provide funding to enable us to do that. Those opportunities to get the education and share and reflect on their experiences are having a beneficial effect in our care settings.
There are other factors that we need to look at in terms of what helps care providers be assertive, or aggressive, if you will, in preventing elder abuse. One is also having a work environment that's conducive to being healthy. So not only will the specific tools around elder abuse help them, but there is the more general principle that CNA is promoting of a 70:30 mix of full-time to part-time or casual staff. We believe that this 70% mark of full-time nurses or care providers assures a continuity and understanding of those patients, and that translates into better care.
We believe that attention to work environment issues, such as a place where they can have a break, getting their breaks, looking after their musculoskeletal health through ceiling transfer lifts, and those kinds of things, all play into a healthy work environment. When you feel healthy at work, you give better care and have better outcomes.
You're quite right in saying that patient safety and staff safety and well-being go hand-in-hand. But I will not let my colleagues off the hook by saying there's any excuse to not provide the best care, regardless of one's setting. We know as nurses how to advocate and we work under a code of ethics that CNA provides and that teaches us and informs us about how to provide care.