Nursing Home and Long-Term Care Directors
Nursing home and long-term care directors may work for an individual facility or for a corporation that owns many facilities. They might also work for the corporation and oversee several facilities.
Duties, Activities, and Scope of Practice
Similar to the hospital director, the nursing home and long-term care director has the ultimate responsibility for the facility and its operations. The director oversees patient services, personnel, finances, facilities and operations, marketing, and public relations.
Education and Training
A bachelor's degree in nursing home administration is required. A master's degree in health care administration is recommended.
Licensure/Certification
All states and the District of Columbia require nursing home and long-term care directors to be licensed. This requires completion of at least a bachelor's degree in nursing home administration from an accredited program, a one-year internship, and passing a comprehensive written examination. The National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long Term Care Administrators administers the licensing test known as the
Alert
Continuing-education requirements must be met to renew licensure each year. Specific requirements can be obtained from your state board of examiners, but typically range from twenty to fifty hours of continuing education. In addition, some states require administrators to complete an Administrator-in-Training (AIT) program, which is approximately 1,000 hours or six months of additional training.
Work Settings and Salaries
Directors of nursing homes and long-term care facilities are on call for all situations, twenty-four hours a day. They work forty to fifty hours a week on a regular basis, and that may include rotation of weekends and holidays and some evening hours to meet the needs of patients' family members.
Some directors run more than one facility for a corporation and will rotate time spent in each. Others work in the corporate offices and direct services for more than one facility from there.
The median salary reported for 2004 by the U.S. Department of Labor was $60,940.
Career Potential and Additional Information
As the population ages, there will be an increasing need for nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This means this field will continue to grow over the next decade.
For more information about these careers, contact the American College of Health Care Administrators. Their Web site is
