Title: Understaffing in Nursing Homes Leads to Low Standard of Care
Headings: Nursing Home Understaffing Leads to Poor Quality Care and Elder Abuse
Nursing Home Understaffing Leads to Poor Quality Care and Elder Abuse
Why Resident-to-Staff Ratio Is Important
According to Federal data, most nursing homes have fewer staff than they report.
When there is understaffing in nursing homes, essential tasks are neglected, such as:
Hiring Unqualified Staff Puts Residents at Risk
Untrained staff have many shortfalls, including:
Increasing Numbers of Qualified Staff to Raise the Standard of Care
Author:

Content: Fewer residents to each staff member prevents the care team from becoming overwhelmed. Since Medicare does not require a minimum resident-to-staff ratio, many nursing homes have too few staff and more residents than they can care for. According to Federal data, most nursing homes have fewer staff than they report. Staffing ratios are widely inconsistent from day to day. On short-staffed days, staff often care for twice as many residents as usual. One facility had eight residents to each caregiver on their best-staffed day. On their lowest-staffed day, this increased to 18 residents for every caregiver. When the ratio of residents to staff is off, caregivers are overwhelmed with responsibilities. They scramble to provide medication, meals and care to the residents who depend on them. Many residents need help getting dressed or using the bathroom.