Hispanics More Likely to be Admitted to Poor Quality Nursing Homes

Mary Fennell, study leader and professor of sociology and community health at Brown University, found that the elderly among the Hispanic population are more likely than non-Hispanics to live in nursing homes of poor quality.

In traditional Hispanic households, care for family seniors has been handled by adult daughters at home. The dilemma is that there are an increasing amount of young Hispanic women that work outside the home.

When daughters are working full time and unable to attend to older family members during the day, they must seek out a solution. According to Fennell’s study, some 4.5 million senior Hispanics are expected to need care sometime in 2010.

From 2000-2005, the percent of Hispanic residents increased from 5 percent to 6.4 percent, but the percentage of non-Hispanic white residents dropped from just under 83 percent to 79.4 percent.

To reach the oringinal article that this post was inspired from or for more information about this study, click here.

“Avoidable” and “Unavoidable” Pressure Sores

The development of pressure sores on a client can easily go unnoticed to the untrained eye. They can cause serious infections, some of which can be lethal. Pressure sores are a major concern for any home care company.

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) categorizes pressure sores under both “Avoidable” and “Unavoidable”. These definitions serve as a map for potential malpractice situations, and need to be understood by all home care companies.

“Unavoidable” pressure sores are defined as when the client developed a pressure ulcer even though the team had evaluated the client’s clinical condition and pressure ulcer risk factors; defined and implemented interventions that are consistent with client needs, goals, and recognized standards of practice; monitored and evaluated the impact of the interventions; and revised the approaches as appropriate.

“Avoidable” pressures sores are termed so because the clinical team was at fault because the process above was not implemented.

Pressure sores will be an unfortunate reality for many of your clients that are at high risk, such as those that use a wheelchair or are bed bound. You can use the CMS definitions as a starting point “checklist” to make sure that your company does everything possible to prevent, address and document pressure sore issues.

It is a good idea to assess each client for pressure sore risks at their first caregiver visit. Provide all of your caregivers with basic training about signs of pressure sores and sore prevention. A handy one page checklist tucked in a client journal can keep caregivers refreshed to this often overlooked, but serious issue.

Nursing Home Negligence and Prevention

Court systems statewide are noticing increasing rates of nursing home negligence and elder abuse. The economic crisis is tempting too many caregivers to take advantage of these sensitive individuals.

The jump in abuse is creating an ever more competitive environment for nursing homes. Families are double checking safety and negligence records of nursing homes to ensure that such abuse doesn’t happen to their loved one.

Even if the nursing home does have a reliable record, it does not guarantee your family member will not be abused. Such unfortunate events are rarely to be blamed on supervisors, managers, and other higher level staff, rather they are simply the symptoms of an unjust caregiver.

If abuse is suspected and has supporting evidence, an elder abuse lawyer, nursing home abuse lawyer, or a nursing home negligence attorney can assist in obtaining compensation. Different cases receive varying levels of compensation. In some instances, a situation may be settled out of court.

Cases of elder abuse, not matter how small, can be a huge setback for any home health care business trying to entice new customers. To prevent such situations, provide incentives for experienced caregivers. Maintain yearly and quarterly caregiver training meetings. Require background checks for caregiver applicants and invest in random drug screening. Those not able to deal with the stress of caring for another individual may react inadvertently. Caregivers that are educated about dealing with stress and are provided with outlet options will be less likely to abuse their clients.