University Of Iowa College Of Public Health

Lauren welcomes Gulrukh Mehboob for a discussion about the impacts of relaxed staff training and licensing requirements on nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gul is a Fulbright PhD scholar at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, studying health workforce policy, particularly in long-term care settings. • Between March 2020 and September 2021, 19 states reduced CNA training and licensing requirements in an effort to address staffing shortages in nursing homes. • Gulrukh's study found that these policy changes did not improve CNA staffing levels in nursing homes, even though some scholars had argued that strict training and licensing requirements were a barrier to entering the field. • Gulrukh suggests that improving wages, benefits, and working conditions for CNAs may be more effective than reducing training and licensing requirements for addressing staffing shortages in nursing homes. • Her future research will explore the impact of other workforce policies, such as incentive-based progr