Has Understaffing Become A Problem For Long-Term Care Facilities?
The costs for nursing homes has been rising, yet the need to hire additional staff members has not. With an increase in people being admitted to these long-term care facilities, it is becoming more expensive but these facilities do not want to lose on the profit that they are gaining. A lack of staff can be attributed to not only neglect but abuse as well. This is a growing problem within the Old Folks’ Home, and it will only get worse as there are more and more older people in existence. In fact, by 2030, there should be double of what there is now.
Understaffing may be caused intentionally so that the owners of these facilities can profit. When understaffing is present within Old Folks’ Homes, then neglect, abuse and even wrongful death become more apparent. There are not enough staff members to look over the hundreds of residents they have and then frustration starts to grow. The Tampa long-term care abuse and neglect attorneys know how much of an impact understaffing in these facilities can have on the residents, especially when they require so much care and attention. Shockingly, as much as 95% of nursing homes throughout the United States are reported to be understaffed.
Everyone wants to receive, but no one wants to give. To have a successful business, one must attribute to the cause. This is something that these nursing homes do not want to do, even though they are dealing with lives, not just products. Some states do require that facilities have an adequate amount of staff and resident ratio, but many do not follow these rules and regulations.
What Are the Reasons for Understaffing in Long-term Care Faculties?
Understaffing within these facilities happens for a number of reasons. The following will list the most common reasons why understaffing happens:
- Owners want to profit
- Difficulty finding trained nurses
- Staff members leaving to due unreasonable demands
- Wanting to work overtime
A nursing home facility must have the adequate staff-resident ratio. By doing so, they ensure that every resident, even those with limited mobility, are taken care of as they should be. This limits the amount of abuse and neglect cases that will happen because the staff members become less stressed. When a nursing home staff has to do the job of two or three other people all within their shift, stress levels rise because that is too much to demand of them. With stress levels above the limit, these employees will not perform their jobs correctly or will take their frustrations on those people who do not deserve it, the elderly.
Tampa Long-Term Care Abuse and Neglect Lawyers Serving Victims
With the amount of profit that nursing home facilities make, they should be having the required amount of nursing staff members that are able to care for the residents. Along with having the adequate amount, they must make sure that these employees are qualified, trained, and successfully pass a background check. All of these factors can reduce the possibility of abuse and neglect which is something that the Miami nursing home abuse lawyers combats to obtain these victims maximum compensation.
