Understanding the Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule
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- Опубликовано: 5 июн 2024
- In April 2024, a new federal rule requiring minimum staffing levels in nursing homes was released. This rule is an important step toward improving quality conditions in nursing homes and ensuring that residents receive the care they need. Listen in on a discussion between Consumer Voice's Lori Smetanka and Sam Brooks, who talk about the importance of the rule, what it says, and how we can start thinking about using it in advocating for quality care.
Thank you for this helpful informational webinar re the new staffing standards for nursing homes. We will definitely be watching at our assigned care home for their self-reporting facility assessment and their posted daily staffing notices as well as their intentions to comply with minimum standards or seek waivers.
There will be nursing homes across this country who will not meet the minimums stated here. Have you thought about where the residents will go when theses facilities close? If you really take a look at the data you will see that there will be residents who will die because there will be no health facility that will be able to intake these residents. This is totally disgusting and will be harmful to residents. There is an answer to this issue and this is not it.
An LPN told me and I quote: "You're Dad is fine, he's not showing any symptoms, the glucose meter goes up to 1,000 if he's not showing symptoms he's OK". UMM NO! My Dad's glucose was 496!!! That same facility also left my Dad in bed covered in stool all around his hands which were under his head in a prayer pose sleeping and his shorts were pulled down exposing his buttocks with the diaper opened & the aide who was going to clean him as evidenced by the pan and water, however it was shortly after 3pm and the aide had clocked out and left my father like this shutting the door. This was the day he was discharged! I filed a grievance. He ended up with C-Diff and 2 pressure wound while he was there, but he was already discharged. The facility ignored calls from the Medicare Keepro immediate advocacy from the issues we had from his hospitalization prior to going to the rehab, so all around my Dad was failed & it was a case of "blame the patient/resident". He came home & went out to the hospital the next day, then to another facility then to the hospital and then to another facility and he's to come home Monday still 3 months later with two wounds & not much better than he left.
While I understand the rule is focused on minimum staffing for clinical related team members, I have been a bit disheartened at how infrequently I hear discussions about enhancing or leveraging non-clinical staffing and roles within the SNF environment. My fear with this regulation is that companies will amp up the number of CNAs working in the beginning, which will be great for the residents, but will be made possible by cutting positions in other departments that are very needed to support the resident and environment as a whole. As our population is evolving in SNF settings, I appreciate the focus from our government and advocacy groups to prompt for improvements. However, the focus cannot simply be on clinical team members. It is very difficult for a skilled RN, LPN, and CNA to properly care for an assignment of residents who have varying mental and behavioral health needs without support from trained ancillary staff members.
There is too much apathy out there. Everyone's response is "it's just how it is". I don't forsee it getting better unless there is a total revolutionary act that we have for children, for the elderly, period! I turn 55 next month, frightened of what's to come if things don't change.
There aren't enough high-quality RNs to meet the standards.
That needs to be addressed prior to passing these standards.
I also think you are disconnected from the reality that frequently good LPNs are far better care givers than new RNs.
These regulations also could force the use of uncommitted staff with terrible performance.... because otherwise we are not "appropriately staffed".
These standards are literally going to deteriorate care levels, because of the generalization that more staff translates to better care.
Piggy-backing off of this - the solution is going to have to be cross-industry and involve the education sector. I'd love to say that companies paying for LPN's to become RN's will do it, but there aren't enough RN educators, and not enough openings for students in RN programs.