staffing at nursing homes

Published on: March 15, 2024

Staffing Shortages, Infection Control Issues Plague Nursing Homes

Many nursing homes in the United States continue to face staffing shortages and struggle with controlling infections in their facilities. Both issues present serious health and safety concerns for residents. Unfortunately, neither challenge is easily addressed.

According to a new report, many nursing facilities in the United States continue to have problems with retaining staff and struggle with low staffing levels. The report was released by the Inspector General’s Office at the Department of Health and Human Services and states that high levels of employee attrition rates, huge employee turnover and employee burnout are to blame for many of these staffing shortages.

Many nursing facilities now grapple with the challenges of not just losing experienced employees, but also training fresh hires to meet federal standards. Lower numbers of staff members on roll or fewer trained staff members mean a higher risk of abuse and neglect at these nursing facilities. Many experienced workers fled the industry during the pandemic when nursing homes were found to have the highest levels of Covid-19 infection rates, and most nursing homes that lost large numbers of workers are still struggling to meet the shortfall. Recruitment and staffing firms that supply workers to these nursing homes are also charging higher rates than earlier, putting more pressure on the facilities.

Published on: October 2, 2023

Federal Government Proposes Increased Nursing Home Staffing Standards

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently announced a proposed rule that would set minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes across the country. Regulators believe that this would help increase standards of care for the elderly and sick at these facilities, and prevent nursing home neglect. Unfortunately, low standards of care often result in falls with fractures, decubitus ulcers (bed sores), amputations and wrongful death.

There are currently more than 1.2 million people who are cared for at one of the country’s 15,000 nursing homes. The standards of care for all these patients would be directly impacted by the new regulation. The US Department of Health and Human Services says that the rule would, for the first time ever in history, propose a minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes. Poor staffing and poorly trained staff is often the main reason persons in nursing homes suffer abuse and personal injuries.

This would include a requirement that the facility have a registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day, every single day. It will also require and set a minimum standard of 3 nursing hours for every resident at the facility. That includes 0.55 hours of care per registered nurse per resident per day and 2.45 hours of care by a nurse aide per resident per day. In addition, nursing facilities may also be required to provide more than the minimum staffing requirements in case of specific patient needs.

Published on: March 17, 2021

Could Minimum Wage Increase Enhance Nursing Home Care?

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The ongoing debate on increasing the federal minimum wage could have unexpected, but welcome, consequences, like the enhancement of care available at the nation’s nursing homes. That could, in turn, mean fewer cases of abuse and neglect of residents at these facilities.

At many nursing homes in Georgia, poor care and even abuse of residents is often linked to understaffing and high rates of staff turnover. Many nursing homes see high staff attrition rates, and in most cases, staff members choose to move jobs when there is a higher pay scale promised. These high staff turnover rates are part of the reason for the devastating effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on these nursing homes.

When the pandemic raged across Georgia, residents in nursing homes were some of the earliest victims. Higher rates of staff turnover meant that many of these nursing homes were understaffed. Fewer staff members meant lower adherence to social distancing protocols of the type that would have helped prevent nursing home residents from infecting each other. Fewer number of staff members also discouraged stronger adherence to the kind of sanitation protocols that would have prevented the spread of infections via contaminated surfaces and objects.