Nursing Home Understaffing

Nursing homes are vastly understaffed, with almost 95% of nursing homes understaffed across the U.S. This understaffing is one of the biggest reasons for injuries, accidents, neglect, and abuse. Nursing home understaffing is dangerous for both residents and staff members and often leads to criminal acts.

There are numerous reasons for nursing home understaffing. First, most nursing homes have trouble finding qualified staff or retaining the reliable staff they do have. Nursing homes have a high turnover rate for employees, often due to unreasonable demands and high patient-to-staff ratios that make working safely difficult.

Also, labor is often the biggest expense when running a nursing home, often causing management to deliberately short-staff shifts and underpay their employees, forcing employees to “burn-out” from overwork and frustration, often pushing good employees to seek employment elsewhere.

Forced Overtime at a Nursing Home

Overtime is a common occurrence for nursing home employees, often times being required or “forced”. While overtime increases wages and is normally seen as a benefit, when employees who are already overworked and tired are pushed into working longer hours, accidents can and do happen.

Overtime is also seen as a way to earn the respect of administrators, but when nursing home employees feel the need to impress their superiors, patient care can suffer when staff are working an unreasonable number of hours.

Consequences of Understaffing at a Nursing Home

There are many negative consequences to understaffing at a nursing home. Staff members that are under a large amount of stress are prone to frustration, anger, and making mistakes that can be deadly. As the staff-to-patient ratio continues to grow, the chances of neglect and abuse occurring increases as well.

Understaffing not only affects the residents but will also affect the employees themselves. Psychological issues are common among those that are overworked, undertrained, and constantly dealing with the stressors and demands that occur in nursing homes.

Some of the consequences of understaffing at a nursing home include:

• Neglect-Nursing home residents depend on staff for feeding, drinking, moving, bathing, grooming, and medication. Understaffed nursing homes may not be able to stick with a consistent schedule for feeding and medications, putting residents at risk for malnutrition, dehydration, and complications from missing life-sustaining medications. Residents that require help bathing and going to the bathroom may be left unclean, increasing the chances of sores and infections.
• Immobility-Many nursing home residents require help with their mobility. When a nursing home is understaffed, residents may not be moved as much as is required and they then run the risk of developing pressure sores, infections, and muscle atrophy.
• Abuse-Nursing home staff that is suffering from psychological issues due to the stresses of overworking are more likely to begin abusing nursing home residents. Those staff that have been charged with abuse of residents list understaffing as the chief reason for their criminal acts. With limited time to properly care for residents, staff often become impatient, rough, and use unnecessary force.

Nursing homes need to be held accountable for the criminal actions that occur due to understaffing. If you suspect your loved one has suffered an accident, injury, or wrongful death due to nursing home understaffing, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to review your case.

If you believe a loved one has been abused or neglected at a long-term care facility, contact 844 See Mike, for a free consultation. We are a Chicago injury law firm representing individuals and families who have suffered an injury or loss due to an accident. 844 See Mike, will handle your personal injury case quickly, will advise you every step of the way, and will not hesitate to go to trial for you.

Lastly, 844 See Mike, does not get paid attorney’s fees unless we win your case. Our no-fee promise is that simple. Therefore, you have nothing to risk when you hire us–just the opportunity to seek justice.