The Love Law Firm
CBS 58
Why You Should Avoid Nursing Homes
At the beginning of my career as a CNA, I was excited to experience my first day shadowing another CNA for training. Around 15 minutes into my shift, it was time to change Rosie, a kind elderly lady with dementia. I noticed that when my trainer changed Rosie's brief, she did not make any attempt to clean her before putting on the new brief. When I asked her why she didn't clean her, she responded, "She has dementia, who is she going to tell?" Unfortunately, these situations are all too common for residents of these facilities. Elders in nursing homes constantly endure instances of abuse and neglect. Nursing homes are deeply flawed in many ways and elder abuse often goes unreported. Nursing homes should be avoided at all costs.
Elder Abuse and Neglect in Nursing Homes
Cornelio Salinas is an 87-year old amputee, who resided in the Solidago Health and Rehabilitation Facility in Texas City, Texas. Salinas' grandson, Lisandro, stated his grandfather had been complaining about abuse taking place for years. In response to their grandfather's claims Salinas' family decided to set up a surveillance camera in his room. One day, Salinas' family received a phone call stating that their grandfather had been sent to the hospital because he fell out of his bed. After seeing their grandfather, they noticed that Salinas had bruises on his face and he was in a cervical collar neck brace. Sensing that something was wrong, the family decided to go back and check the footage from the camera, where they found disturbing evidence of physical abuse. In the video below, two healthcare workers can be seen kicking, hitting, and dragging Cornelio. (KHOU 11 News)
*Warning: Sensitive footage of elder abuse shown.
KHOU 11 News
Unfortunately, Cornelio is not the only member of the elderly community who has endured these atrocities. Alarming numbers of abuse instances are reported every year spanning from neglect all the way to homicide. In the year 2000, a study was carried out by the Atlanta Long Term Care Ombudsman Program in which 80 residents were interviewed from 23 different nursing homes in the state of Georgia. After these interviews concluded, it was found that “44 percent of the residents reported that they had been abused, while 48 percent reported that they had been treated roughly” (Hawes, Catherine). Many residents and CNAs have experienced the same.
“They throw me like a sack of feed … [and] that leaves marks on my breast.”
-Georgia Nursing Home Resident
“Oh, yeah. I've seen abuse. Things like rough handling, pinching, pulling too hard on a resident to make them do what you want. Slapping, that too. People get so tired, working mandatory overtime, short-staffed. It's not an excuse, but it makes it so hard for them to respond right,” (Hawes, Catherine)
-CNA from South Carolina
In my experience working as a CNA, I have witnessed an unnerving lack of care standards among care workers including unchanged briefs and linens, changing briefs without perineal cleaning, verbal abuse of elders, and many more. These unacceptable instances of Abuse and Neglect are one of the many reasons why we need to avoid nursing homes at all costs. As people, we often tend to think that abuse could never happen to our loved ones until it does.
Use of Medication Aides
Many facilities employ Certified Nursing Aides to carry out all administering of medication. A Certified Nurse Aide is, “an individual who is certified by the division as having completed a training and examination program for nurse aides established by the division in collaboration with the board” (Utah State Legislature). These individuals often have no education in pharmacology or what these medications do to your body, which leads to increased risk of medication errors. The most common medication errors are missed/late doses, wrong dose/overdosage, and extra dose (Siwicki, Bill). This lack of knowledge can even cause death in certain medication error instances.
Denver Health Medical Plan
When studying to become a medication aide, I took a two hour class with a nurse, who breezed past a printout of a PowerPoint presentation. Following this class, I was given a non-proctored exam where I was allowed to use outside resources including my phone. I was not prepared to administer medication or narcotics to elders. I have personally witnessed 3 medication errors as a medication aide. Although adverse effects did not occur, this situation could have been lethal and could have been avoided with proper training and education on medication.
Lack of Nursing Staff
It is a well-known issue that there is a national shortage of nurses and nursing staff. According to the AACN, “The U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing). Along with the shortage of nurses, there is also an intense shortage of Certified Nursing Aides. According to Dr. Jasmine Travers, it has been reported that as of 2023, more than 80% of nursing homes reported being understaffed (Business Mirror).These
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American Nurse
shortages leads to an unsafe resident to staff ratio, which also leads to lack of proper care protocol and attention to residents.
The shortage of essential nursing staff members can cause outrageous resident to CNA ratios as high as 30 residents to 1 CNA. With a ratio this high, it's next to impossible to give each resident the attention and quality care that they deserve. Dr. Jasmine Travers of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing states, “A number of studies show that when staffing is low, emergency hospitalization visits increase,” (Business Mirror). Nursing staff shortage is a danger to the residents of these facilities.
There are many flaws in the system that we trust to care for our elderly loved ones. Constant shortages of nursing staff, improperly trained care personnel, and risk of abuse puts elders in these facilities at risk every day. While there are many workers who consistently provide quality care, unfortunately, there are many who do not. The disadvantages of nursing homes clearly overshadow any advantages. I will certainly not be trusting one of these facilities to care for my loved one, and I suggest that you take my advice in avoiding nursing homes for your loved ones.
Resources
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Bludau, Janelle. “Video Shows 87-Year-Old Man Being Hit, Kicked at Nursing Home - Khou.Com.” KHOU 11, 4 Oct. 2022, www.khou.com/article/news/local/nursing-home-abuse/285-89b7fe9c-93fb-4095-8af7-955875baafa3.
“Nurse Practice Act Amendments.” Utah Legislature HB0285, 2005, le.utah.gov/~2005/bills/hbillint/hb0285.htm.
"Nursing Shortage Fact Sheet.” American Association of Colleges of Nursing, AACS, Oct. 2022, www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact- sheets/nursing-shortage.
Hawes, Catherine. “Elder Abuse in Residential Long-Term Care Settings: What Is Known And ...” National Library of Medicine, 2003, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK98786/.
Siwicki, Bill. “State Finds Hundreds of Medication Errors Linked to Healthcare Technology.” Healthcare IT News, 10 Apr. 2017, www.healthcareitnews.com/news/state-findshundreds-medication-errors-linked- healthcaretechnology#:~:text=The%20three%20most%20commonly%20reported,administration%2 0record%2C%20the%20report%20said. “Understaffed US Nursing Homes Affect Millions of Elderly Residents.” EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.Ebsco.Com, Business Mirror, 26 Aug. 2023, web-s-ebscohostcom.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=b07becf2-a8be-4147-9c53- d55bb028bf88%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=G90BB MI20230826.00016.2&db=n5h.
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Mensik, Jennifer. 11 Feb. 2014. What Every Nurse Should Know about Staffing, American Nurse, https://www.myamericannurse.com/what-every- nurse-should-know-about-staffing/. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
Nursing Home Abuse of Patients with Dementia. 26 Nov. 2018. CBS 58, https://www.cbs58.com/news/nursing-home-abuse-of-patients-with- dementia. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
TYPES OF NURSING HOME ABUSE. 24 Jan. 2023. The Love Law Firm, The Love Law Firm, https://thelovelawfirm.com/2023/01/24/types-of-nursing- home-abuse/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
Your Medications Are Most Effective When They Are Current. Denver Medical Health Plan, https://www.denverhealthmedicalplan.org/blog/your- medications-are-most-effective-when-they-are-current. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
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Videos
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“Video Shows 87-Year-Old Resident Being Hit, Kicked and Dragged in Texas City Nursing Home.” KHOU 11, 4 Oct. 2022, https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/nursing-home-abuse/285-89b7fe9c-93fb-4095-8af7-955875baafa3. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.