Nursing homes are residential places for patients who require continuous nursing care because they are unable to deal with day to day activities in life. The homes provide staff round the clock to ensure that their patients have the care they need at all time. Usually, the patients are those who have already been treated in the hospitals, but still need constant health care which cannot be provided by their family at home. They provide both medical and therapy services. The homes provide skilled nursing care to the old who are no longer able to take care of themselves and are constantly falling sick thus need continuous care. The service is not restricted to the old. They also cater for the young who suffer mental illness, the physically disabled and those who have been in an accident and have been deformed physically (Mark, 2011). This is because patients need a comfortable place to both live in and get medical attention at any time instead of being frequently rushed to the emergency room of hospitals. The patients get better treatment as the get personal attention of the nurse taking care of them (Allen, 2011).
The Health and Human Services Inspector General carried out research on how patients in nursing homes are treated by their health care providers. This research revealed that most of these patients are not given the amount of care they need for the improvement of their health. It also showed that most patients got infections that could have been avoided had the nurses or the caretakers exercised the required standard of skill to treat their patients .Some of the patients, it was reported, were issued with the wrong medication for an ailment they suffer from. This is very dangerous as the wrong medication to a patient may cause temporary or permanent damage to their health. In extreme cases, it can cause untimely death of patients who would have survived had they been given quality treatment .
Records of patients in nursing homes were reviewed by doctors when inspections were being carried out. These records indicated that the demise of patients and the injuries some of them suffered was due to the low quality treatment accorded to them and infrequent or complete lack of monitoring. Some patients died because of fluid imbalances that could have easily been monitored and others from kidney failure which, if managed properly, the patient would have lived longer. Patients who suffered injuries but were not dead and could be traced were readmitted to hospital so that they could be given the right treatment but at costly prices.
Patients who are harmed in nursing homes are more than those harmed in hospitals. It has always been known that more medical errors are made in hospitals and not in nursing home. The findings of the report were astonishing and unexpected. This shows that patient safety in the healthcare department has not been developed.
Nursing homes facilities should be inspected to prevent any more harm from coming to patients. Safety of patients should be ensured by the Healthcare Authorities and agencies.
Underpayment and delayed payment of the staff is the main reason for the caretakers’ abandonment of their patients. The environment they work under is one of stress and one that requires patience. The poor remuneration does not motivate employees in nursing homes to perform their duties with dedication and efficiently. Thus to alleviate this, the management of these facilities should compensate the nurses adequately so that they can have the urge to help their patients. Lack of enough staff is another issue. The patients in these homes need personal care and attention from their caretakers. This is very tiresome and time consuming. Where the facility is understaffed, the staff gets overworked as they have to work overtime to deal with all patients. The time they allocate to each patient will be minimal as they have a large number of patients to serve.
The News Implications on Future Opportunities as a Healthcare Manager
Patients are usually taken to nursing homes by their family members because they can get the skilled care and attention they could not get at home. This gives them the consolation that their relative is receiving the attention they require and that they are getting the best medical care there is. Lack of adequate care for the patients at nursing homes will make patients prefer staying at home. They will prefer getting treatment from doctors who make house calls or get treatment at hospitals. Thus, a healthcare manager of a nursing home may find himself lacking a health facility to manage if no reforms are made so that the patients receive the best care.
A Health care manager may be relieved his/her duties dishonorably because of harm caused to patients by staff. The manager should ensure that the health facility is well managed and that the patients receive the best care there is to offer. Therefore, when a patient dies due to negligence by staff, it is the manager who is blamed. He/she can be told to quit his job as his/her work leaves a lot to be desired. This will make it difficult for him to attain another position in a health facility as he will be forced to explain the circumstances under which he lost or quit his previous job (Mark, 2011).
Mistakes that lead to deaths of patients that could be prevented are fatal. This may lead to the health manager being suspended or disbanded from the board. A suspended health manager cannot be employed for the specified period of time. The one who is disbanded cannot practice in the field of medicine ever again. This marks the end of his career, one that he may have worked so hard to attain. Therefore, health managers should proceed with caution when administering a nursing home. They should ensure that all patients have the care they need at all times and that they are treated by skilled nurses. They should also ensure that the patients are given the right medication, are constantly monitored and that they do not neglect any of their patients.
The manager should ensure there is adequate staff, facilitates and good healthcare provision. The healthcare manager should employ enough staff to avoid overworking employees and giving minimal attention to patient. The work environment should be conducive for the staff for them to be dedicated (Harrington, 2011). He should also motivate them by, for example, holding parties for them together with their patients. By doing so, he/she will have secured his position in the facility (Allen, 2011).
References
Allen, J. E. (2011). Nursing Home Administration. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Crespin, D. J., Modi, A. V., Wei, D., Williams, C. E., Greene, S. B., Pierson, S., et al. (2010). Repeat medication errors in nursing homes: Contributing factors and their association with patient harm. Medical Errors, 258-70.
Harrington, C. (2011). Nursing Home Staffing and Its Relationship to Deficiencies. Journals of Gerontology, 60-70.
Kaiser Health News. (2014, March 4). One Third Of Nursing Home Patients Harmed By Caregivers. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/daily-reports/2014/march/04/quality.aspx?referrer=search
Mark, B. H. (2011). Inappropriate Medication Prescribing in Skilled-Nursing Facilities. Medicine and Public Policy, 56.
