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Essays on how to prevent nursing home abuse
Essays on how to prevent nursing home abuse
Essays on how to prevent nursing home abuse
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Nursing Home Abuse
With over 1.5 million elderly and dependent adults now living in nursing homes throughout the country, abuse and neglect has become a widespread problem. Even though some nursing homes provide good care, many are subjecting helpless residents to needless suffering and death. Most residents in nursing homes are dependent on the staff for most or all their needs such as food, water, medicine, toileting, grooming- almost all their daily care. Unfortunately, many residents in nursing homes today are starved, dehydrated, over-medicated, and suffer painful pressure sores. They are often isolated, ignored and deprived of social contact and stimulation. Because of insufficient and poorly trained staff commonly found in nursing homes. Care givers are often overworked and grossly underpaid that often results in rude and abusive behavior to vulnerable residents who beg them for simple needs such as water or to be taken to the bathroom.
Federal and State laws require that nursing homes develop a plan of care and employ sufficient staffing to provide all the care listed on the care plan. Most corporate owned nursing homes today are not sufficiently staffed, and they can not provide all the care listed on the care plan. Consequently, residents are not taken to the toilet when necessary; they’re often left lying in urine and feces. They also develop painful and life-threatening decubitus ulcers, and are not fed properly, they’re not given sufficient fluids. They are also over-medicated or under-medicated, and dropped causing painful bruises and fractures, are ignored and not included in activities, are left in bed all day, call lights not answered. These are all forms of negligence, performed daily in nursing homes.
Nursing homes who receive federal funds are required to comply with federal laws that specify that residents receive a high quality of care. In 1987 Congress responded to reports of widespread neglect and abuse in nursing homes during 1980’s, which enacted legislation to reform nursing home regulations and require nursing homes participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to comply with certain requirements for quality of care. The legislation, included in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, which specifies that a nursing home “must provide services and activities to attain or maintain the highest practicable phys...
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...al nurse on duty day and night?
Nursing home care is expensive. Although prices vary, the basic charge for a double-bed room in a typical nursing home is in the range of $20,000 to $50,000 a year. Homes in rural areas tend to be slightly less expensive than those in cities. The costs of medications and physician visits are not included in the basic charge. Also, special treatments such as physical, occupational, and speech therapy often add to the cost. There are also possible additional charges for drugs, laundry, haircuts, and extra services. Some nursing homes are operated as nonprofit corporations. They are sponsored by religious, charitable, fraternal and other groups or ran by government agencies at the federal, state, or local levels. But many nursing homes are businesses operated for profit. Individuals or corporations may own them. Sometimes they are part of a chain of nursing homes.
Now, you can see that Nursing Home abuse is a big problem in America. You might want to get involved in our local program against nursing home abuse. I will leave you with one last statistic, 1 out of every 8 nursing home patients are abused in some way. Wouldn’t you like to help them?
Albeit LTC facilities are designed to benefit individuals with disabilities, residents in LTC settings are often victims of unethical practices conducted by healthcare employees. Types of abuse commonly seen in long-term care ranges from withholding food from the individual, overdosing residents with medication to keep them calm, withholding individuals from activities, physically beating or spanking residents, and the list goes on. There are many instances where residents are verbally abused, called names, and profanity is used against the individuals. This type of behavior from health care professionals is unacceptable, and these incidents must be
Long term care facilities are for patients looking for 24 hour care, these are sometimes referred to as nursing homes. Providing safety and quality of life with nursing as well as endless supervision. Long term care facilities are held through profit or non profit organizations. Long-term care facilitates are generally classified by ownership: Proprietary (for profit) meaning owned by individual or corporation and run for profit. Religious, meaning owned and operated by a religious organization, lay/charitable meaning owned and operated by a voluntary, non governmental and non religious body. (non profit). And others would be municipal, regional, provincial and federal. “Ontario carries 17% For profit facilitates, 46% government owned, 18% not for profit, and 19% Religious facilities for long term care. That is a 48.4% rate of not for profit homes with a 51.6% rates of profit organizations” (Banerjee, An Overview of Long-Term Care in Canada and Selected Provinces and Territories). Through the whole of this research paper, the terms will be grouped looking through for profit facilities and not for profit facilities of Ontario. This paper also has the intention to promote the need for maximizing priorities in long term care facilities as they lack the funds needed to fully produce the mission of quality. “Take away the public relations spin and it is clear that even the for-profit association admits that cutting on food and staff costs, and charging higher fees is the practice to maximize profit taking from the homes. Conversely, municipalities are pouring funding into the operational budgets of the facilities to improve care. Non-profits fundraise to provide activities and amenities. They act ...
When it comes to operating nursing home facilities, there are many stakeholders involved depending on whether the institution is for-profit, non-profit or government owned. Majority of nursing homes are for-profit organization and they account for almost 70 percent of nursing homes, while non-profit nursing homes account for less than 30 percent and less 6 percent are government owned (Nursing home data Compendium, 2015). Nearly 95.5 percent of nursing homes across the state are dually certified, meaning they have both Medicare and Medicaid certifications (Center for Medicare and Medicaid, 2015). Nursing home funding comes from four different sectors. Nearly fifty percent of their revenue come from Medicaid, followed by Medicare which counts for twenty percent, and the rest of payments come from a mixture of private-long-term care insurance and out of pocket (Yoder, 2012).
There have been problems within Long-Term Care and many of these abuses were turned over to the patients, there was hardly any direction on how to handle Long-Term Care. “Poor houses and Almshouses and developed in response to an impoverished, aging, and mentally and physically disabled population who lacked informal caregivers.” (Sarah Thompson, 2008 ) When Long-Term Care was in the infancy stage of developing there were many problems, issues that were created because there was not much direction. In developing in taking care of the elderly there were poorly trained nurses, medical workers and many of them were not qualified to work within the medical field. There were problems, many issues and multiple levels of abuse because of poorly trained medical workers where there was no direction.
So how can we spot, educate, and prevent elderly abuse? I am so glad you
Many people confuse nursing homes with assisted living facilities, but there are several important differences between them. There is a very thin border, which separates the nursing homes from the assisted living facilities. The primary purpose of both of them is to provide medical care and assistance to the residents. However, there is a difference in the level of care provided in each of them, their eligibility criteria, privacy provided, their cost of living, amenities, social activities, and the coverage by the insurance.
Of nursing home staff interviewed in 2004, nearly 40% admitted to committing at least one psychologically abusive act toward a resident and 10% admitted to physically abusing a resident in the preceding year.[1] Not only are nursing home residents at risk of being abused by their caretakers but they are also at risk of being restrained, which may lead to a form of abuse. With five percent of the elderly population, or one to two million instances of elder abuse occurring yearly there is no doubt that elder abuse deserves serious consideration.[2]
We all know someone who has been placed in a health care setting such as a rest home or hospital because their needed care is out of their families own ability; whether it’s our own grandma or the neighbor’s great aunt. Many people in this day and age are getting care from health care workers on a daily basis and need constant watch and care. Many of those in the older population are put into rest homes where they can spend the rest of their lives in comfort, while others are placed in hospitals to recover from a stroke or a mental illness. At times, many patients become abusive or unresponsive by choice or not. Because of this abuse and also less control over thoughts and feeling restraints are used to keep them safe. Many believe that last statement; that they are completely safe. With my knowledge, the use of physical and chemical restraints in geriatric health care settings, such as rest homes, should be lessened because they cause injury, require patients to need more care and they take away necessary freedoms.
Though elderly abuse occurs in many nursing homes, it is preventable. It is the nursing aide 's responsibility to provide quality and comfortable care, free from abuse. Many people are not aware that there are several other types of abuse in addition to physical abuse and many are not aware of the signs. If abuse should occur, anyone who suspects or witnesses the abuse is responsible for reporting it. Knowing the types of abuse, being aware of the signs, and reporting incidents are all ways to prevent abuse in nursing homes.
Elder abuse in nursing home is a social problem that has had more and more attention in these recent years. “Elder abuse is the most recent domestic violence issue to gain the attention of the public and the medical community.” (Elder Abuse: A Review) According to the Senate Special Committee, about 5 “million older Americans are abused and neglected every year.” Abuse for the elderly can be considered a social problem due to the people who are in denial of it actually occurring, for example, the caregivers and nurses who do not consider themselves to be actually performing the abuse. It is a problem because the elders are put into these nursing homes by loved ones and ones who
...n-Greener, H., Spector, W. D., Veazie, P., & Mukamel, D. B. (2013). Making Difficult Decisions: The Role of Quality of Care in Choosing a Nursing Home. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(5), e1-e7.
These facilities are regulated by the state and federal government and these regulations protects the senior residents. For example it is mandatory for the facilities in Texas to provide mandatory services such as daily living activities like dressing, feeding or help prepare meals and cleaning. Depending on the facility license the staff would have to assist with financial management and certain medical services. Even though the federal government developed guidelines the state can make their own as long as it complies with the federal government. Some organizations may accept private pay while others accepted Medicaid. Regulations are developed to protect residence that from being in an unsafe environment. As a result some assisted living and nursing homes are unable to continue services by having fines or closing for an unknown amount of time. Since each state has different set of regulations I will focus on the state regulations in Texas because it is the state I reside in. The organization in Texas that regulates assisted living and nursing homes is the Department of Aging and Disability services(DADS).
The ethical issues that are being faced in nursing facilities are privacy, group living, and independence. Elders like to consider themselves independent while they still have their motor skills and ability to do things without any help or assistance. If someone takes away their independence, then the elders would feel helpless and feel they cannot do anything like they used to. Privacy is one of the most important meanings to the elders. They deserve the respect and dignity. Group living is having all the patients together and sees how they adapt to one another while dealing with their medical
Families increasingly hospitalize their elders who are physically disabled, bedridden or in need of long-term care. These individuals are usually transferred to nursing homes, but because of sparse accommodations and a one to two year wait list, they end up staying with family members who are often ill equipped to care for them. As a result, there are a number of incidences of elder abuse by family members and elder suicide.
All employees, residents, and visitors must understand and abide by the Residents' Rights and report any instances of those rights being violated. These rights really stress the dignity of the residents and stress self-determination, meaning that the resident has the right to decide what happens to them (NCCNHR Administration, 1999). Some areas that are covered and discussed within the rights are quality of life, services, activities, being informed, self-determination, making independent choices, confidentiality, respect, dignity, security of possessions, discharges, complaints, and having visitors (NCCNHR Administration, 1999). Residents have the right to be informed on the services that can be provided to them, charges being made to their accounts or insurances, their rights, facility information, etc. (NCCNHR Administration, 1999). Residents have the right to make their own, independent choices about their medical care and other personal things (NCCNHR Administration, 1999). Residents have the right to medical privacy, personal privacy, respect, and dignity (NCCNHR Administration, 1999). The Ombudsman program acts as advocates for older adults living in nursing homes, making sure that their rights are not being violated and that they are happy with the care that they are