Georgia nursing homes are experiencing a wave of understaffing. This has led to a decrease in overall patient health and more claim problems with medical malpractice. By understanding the effects of understaffing on individual patient care, more family members can help to identify when understaffing is present and alert authorities.
What are common physical symptoms of neglect?
Nursing home neglect is something that every family member should be able to identify through some very common physical symptoms. This way, they can protect their loved one from future abuse. Some common symptoms include mental decline, physical decline, untreated bedsores, dehydration, inadequate hygiene and extreme weight loss.
What’s the connection between understaffing and poor care?
Understaffing in a nursing home simply means that there are not enough staff members to properly care for the number of residents that reside there. When there is a lack of caretakers, patient needs go unmet. Many workers find themselves dealing with double the amount of patients that they’re supposed to. This means spending less time with each patient.
Even a simple task like feeding a resident can be cut short when there is a high demand of patients and few staff members. This can lead some residents to experience a decrease in their health as a staff member may not be able to spend enough time with the patient to get them to eat. If they’re experiencing a problem with the patients having an off day, they don’t have the time to help them along. Rather, they just skip to the next patient and that original patient goes without their meal.
Understaffed nursing homes are becoming the new norm. With more patients entering through the doors and fewer staff members on duty, patients are experiencing more health issues than ever before. It’s time to speak up when you notice that understaffing is causing your loved one is suffering.