Let's Make a Difference: What can and should be done to make nursing homes safer for the elderly?
What do you think of when you think of a nursing home? Is it raging parties with drugs and alcohol? What about the locale of an Olympic blindfolded skydiving team? Or how about the headquarters of a covert operation to train ninjas? I didn’t think so. Nursing homes are generally pretty safe. Most, if not all facilities require visitors to sign in and out of the center, there are wheelchair accessible entrances to all parts of the home, and there are excellent regiments in place for good and healthy eating. However, there are still things that can cause some seriously damaging impacts on senior living. Luckily, there are many solutions that can be implemented to protect the elderly.
For example, my grandmother (we call her Bubby) was in a care facility that actually wasbreaking the law. One of the nurses was switching out Bubby’s meds, which made her even sicker. The nurse was supposed to document and sign when the medication came in, and when it was delivered but all records were “missing”. Eventually we discovered that she was stealing Bubby’s opioid medication to support her own drug addiction. There are a lot of laws and regulations that are in place to prevent this sort of occurrence, however it is more common than you think. An obvious answer would be to employ better checks and systems of the transference of medication, but also better examinations of employees. This would help prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future, and help keep all residents safe.
In addition to further employment assessments, increasing the number of staff members and keeping high standards for nurses (in terms of medical training) would be extremely beneficial to the seniors’ overall well-being and safety, as well as keep them happier and more comfortable. Visiting Bubby in her care facility, my mom and I have noticed that while there are staff members available throughout the building, there may not be enough. Nursing Home Abuse Guideexplains that over 90% of nursing homes are understaffed, and overworking employees can lead to frustration, which may lead them to act abusively due to that frustration. They even state that “studies have proven that residents who live in understaffed nursing homes are at a greater risk of malnutrition, weight loss, bedsores, dehydration, infections, and pneumonia”(paragraph 2). However, it may or may not be intentional. Overworking staff members can leave them exhausted, stressed, and impatient, so mistakes are bound to occur. These mistakes can range from maybe simply forgetting to check on a resident once on rounds, to not being able to recognize possible life-threatening health issues. Having more people available would allow for better supervision, as falls are dangerous and are the most common issue being affected by underemployment. Not only would this help prevent common accidents, but also would allow for more individualized care both physically, and emotionally. It is hard moving into a care facility when you have been living independently, and these bonds can help them feel safer and more at home.
Besides personal care, it is imperative that the patients receive any care at all. There is a lot of red tape when it comes to getting patients admitted, processing all of their medical information, and connecting them with health care providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servicesexplains “when administrative burden increases with little or no benefit, patients suffer because mountains of unnecessary paperwork keep providers from patients” (paragraph 20). For some patients, time is of the essence. Some of this red tape can take up crucial time that could be better used to help people. Meer weeks or even days can determine a senior’s medical outcome. When it comes to nursing homes, patient care and safety is of the utmost importance.
Many people do not worry about conditions of nursing homes as they think it doesn’t apply to them or it won’t for a very long time. Nevertheless, thousands of people throughout the country will end up in a nursing home, or know someone who will. What will care look like for your relative? Your mother? Father? Friend? What will care look like for you? There are countless ways to make a difference in national policies, and even in your own community. Hopefully the issues I have outlined can be addressed by nursing homes and political agencies, but you and I can also make a difference. Below are just two of many petitions to help take action; please take 30 seconds to sign these petitions to help support nursing homes to provide the care and safety their patients deserve.
Petitions:
More information can be found at:
Try this page in specific: https://coganpower.com/blog/nursing-home-dehydration/
Works Cited
“Ensuring Safety and Quality in America's Nursing Homes.” CMS, www.cms.gov/blog/ensuring-safety-and-quality-americas-nursing-homes.
“Nursing Home Understaffing - Neglect and Liability.” Nursing Home Understaffing Comments, www.nursinghomeabuseguide.org/neglect/understaffing.
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