Is Your Nursing Home Properly Staffed

Is Your Nursing Home Properly Staffed?

Shortage of nursing staff is a big concern for nursing homes. Without adequate numbers of staff, the patients cannot possibly be taken proper care of. Many homes with inadequate staff saw an increase in pressure sores and more usage of physical restraints.

There are some specific times when staffing should be a concern to you. In some cases, it may be hard to get accurate information as to how much staff a nursing home has. And while it is important, the number of people that work for a nursing home is not always indicative of the quality of care that is received. Instead of looking at the numbers, there are other things that you should consider to determine if your nursing home is adequately staffed or not.

Take a look at the residents. Residents should be clean and well groomed, and should not appear unusually lethargic (a sign of over-use of drugs to keep them quiet). There should be plenty of activities for residents to participate in, and enough of a variety to have something to interest almost everyone. Look at the latest reports regarding pressure sores. The closer to zero the number is the better. Do the same for the use of physical restraints. While some physical restraints are necessary for some conditions, too high of a number may indicate that they are being used in place of extra staff members.

Take time to tour the nursing home. Watch the interactions between the staff and the residents. Here is where quality is better than quantity. Having several staff members that do not act friendly to staff may be more detrimental than having fewer staff members. Also watch how resident complaints are received by the staff. If staff members are ignoring complaints or requests, it is a good sign that they are not providing the best care.

There are some things that you can do to make sure that you have a nursing home with adequate staff and that will provide good care. Start by reading over the reports and only looking at nursing homes that have none, or only a few, deficiencies. Look into legal reports to find out if there are any pending complaints against the nursing home or other legal actions. Too many complaints should be a warning flag to you. Non-profit care tends to have better ratings than for-profit care, so try to consider non-profit homes first.

Once you have chosen a nursing home for your loved one, be sure to follow up regularly. Make surprise visits to see how the home is maintained. Find out from your loved one what therapies and activities they are participating, and compare that to what they are supposed to be receiving. Ask to receive copies of all of the annual inspection so that you can watch for problems. Take all complaints seriously, and if you suspect abuse or neglect, take action against it immediately. This will help to guarantee the quality of care not only for your loved one, but for all the other residents of the nursing home.