Nursing homes face chronic understaffing and high staff turnover rates. Low pay, inadequate benefits, unreasonable hours, and underfunding from Medicaid lead to low morale, tough working conditions, and overwhelmed caregivers. For these reasons, frequent staff changes and budget restrictions may result in inadequately trained caregivers on duty in nursing homes. An alarming one out of ten nursing home residents face abuse or neglect with long-term adverse effects, including infections, injuries, and shortened lifespan. Inadequate staff training plays a role in the high number of catastrophic outcomes in nursing home residents. If you suspect neglect or abuse, a Phoenix nursing home abuse lawyer can help you take legal action to protect your loved ones and pursue justice.
Understanding Nursing Home Staffing
Doctors provide essential geriatric medical care to residents in nursing homes but nursing staff supervise and provide much of a resident’s daily care. The nurses and caregivers in nursing homes typically have the following credentials:
- A Registered Nurse (RN) holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing care
- A Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) has an associate’s degree in nursing care
- A Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) has an associate’s degree in nursing
- A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) has a high school diploma, has completed a training program and passed a competency test
Nursing homes typically hire CNAs and LPNs as the bulk of their caregiver staff. These staff members earn lower wages than the fewer, more highly paid RNs hired as floor supervisors in nursing homes.
Are Nursing Home Caregivers Undertrained?
The are minimal requirements for the CNAs who make up the largest portion of nursing home caregivers tasked with the majority of a resident’s daily care. The federal training requirements for a CNA certification are as follows:
- 75 hours of beginning training with 16 hours of supervised training in a clinical setting
- A passing grade on the certification exam
- Passing a clinical skills test
CNAs must also complete 12 hours of annual continued education. Nursing homes often hire CNAs before they complete their training. Some CNA students work shifts in nursing homes as early as four months before their certification. The total training for a CNA is equivalent to less than a single semester of two university classes—not even half of a typical college student’s course load for a semester. Additionally, A CNA student does not have to show proficiency in reading or writing in English to obtain a certification. Arizona is one of only 13 states that require 120 training hours, or 45 additional hours over the federal minimum of 75 hours, providing a slight advantage to the quality of care in an Arizona nursing home compared to those in other states.
Dangers of Inadequate Training, High Staff Turnover Rates, and Chronic Understaffing In Nursing Homes
Challenging and often unrealistic workloads, low pay, and the lack of career advancement opportunities in nursing homes are difficult enough, but when combined with the emotionally distressing aspects of caring for ailing elderly residents, low morale is common among nursing home employees. With high staff turnover rates, nursing home residents face a lack of consistency in their daily care. Frequent newly hired caregivers on the floor in nursing homes means undertrained and inexperienced workers face the task of caring for medically fragile elderly residents. The dangers of inadequately trained, over-burdened nursing home caregivers result in the following alarming facts:
- Nearly all nursing home residents in a study of 40 facilities were dehydrated, with a significant number of residents suffering from adverse medical conditions caused by chronic dehydration
- A similar research study revealed that only 20% of nursing home residents were well-nourished, more than 68% were at risk of malnutrition, and 10% were significantly malnourished
- Undertrained caregivers more frequently spread infections between residents
- Up to 28% of nursing home residents in some studies suffered from bedsores caused by infrequent position changes
- An estimated 260,000 nursing home residents report neglect and abuse each year in the U.S., and it’s estimated that only one out of 24 instances of abuse are reported
- Nurse’s aids (CNAs) provide up to 90% of a nursing home resident’s care
- When surveyed, two out of three caregivers admitted to actions that constitute abuse or neglect, and 80% reported seeing other caregivers abuse residents
- Half of all nursing home residents experience at least one fall each year, often due to inadequate assistive walking equipment and accidental drops by caregivers attempting to move them from bed to chair
- Reports show that at least 20% of nursing home residents become victims of medication mistakes and it’s likely that many more go undetected or unreported
One out of ten nursing home residents reports abuse each year in the United States—a number that’s widely perceived to be underreported. Many nursing home residents are unable to report abuse due to dementia or speech difficulties while others don’t report their abuse because they don’t want to burden their loved ones.
Recognizing Signs of Abuse and Neglect Due to Inadequately Trained Nursing Home Caregivers
Because many nursing home residents do not or cannot report their neglect or abuse, it’s important to recognize signs such as the following:
- Sudden weight loss
- Dry, cracked skin and lips
- Uneaten meals remaining in the resident’s room
- Unexplained injuries
- Poor hygiene/unclean bedding
- Unkempt appearance
- Frequent infections
- Broken personal items like glasses and dentures
- Torn or bloodied clothing
- Reluctance to talk in front of caregivers
- Frequent falls
- Untreated or infected bedsores
- Chaffing from restraint use
- Bleeding or bruising around the private parts
- Changes in personality or withdrawal from social activities
Emotional abuse is also common in nursing homes. Residents report becoming the target of yelling, belittling, berating, name-calling, infantilizing, and intentional isolation. Overwhelmed, undertrained caregivers are more likely to commit unintentional neglect or the intentional abuse of those in their care.
How Can a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Help?
Abuse and neglect in nursing homes have serious adverse effects on residents, including diminished quality of life and shortened life expectancy. All nursing homes have a duty to provide quality care, including meeting every resident’s basic needs, providing stimulating activities, and treating the elderly in their care with compassion and respect for their human dignity. If a nursing home breaches its duty of care to a resident and the result is serious harm or death, the resident or their family members have the right to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party or the nursing home administrators. Call the nursing home abuse attorneys at Knapp & Roberts today for experienced representation to give your loved one a voice for justice.