The relationship between staffing and quality in long-term care facilities: Exploring the views of nurse aides

Research on staffing and quality of care in long-term care facilities confi rms that adequate staffing levels are important to ensuring quality but few studies have examined how the two are linked. The research reported in thi s article used participant observation and indepth interviewing to explore how nurse aides (NAs) understand the link between staffing and quality. The findings show that NAs deem their relationships with residents to be the c entral determinant of quality of care as well as an important outcome in it self. Adequate staffing is essential to allowing NAs to nurture these relat ionships.