Abstract
Japan has a declining birthrate and an aging society, and the working population is decreasing. Our hospital has seen declines in the number of nursing assistants entering the workforce and in the retention rate of nursing assistants in recent years, and has decided to begin hiring foreign nursing assistants as specified sill workers for the first time to help solve the labor shortage. The purpose of this survey was to understand the attitudes of the nursing staff at the hospital toward the employment of these foreign nursing assistants in a general hospital, and to identify issues that need to be addressed. The survey was distributed to 242 nursing staff members and 211 questionnaires were collected. In response to the question on whether they are anxious about working with foreign nursing assistants, nursing assistants were found to be more anxious than nursing professionals. The concerns were categorized into “language and culture”, “education”, and “patient care”. When asked if they could be a role model for foreign nursing assistants, more nursing assistants than nursing professionals responded that they did not think so. When asked if they thought a manual specifically for foreign nursing assistants was necessary, both nurses and nursing assistants responded that it was necessary. Although the education of nursing assistants has been based on experience through on-the-job training, it is necessary to develop and restructure the educational system to standardize knowledge and skills in the future.
