Essay about Nursing Home Abuse

Skilled Nursing facility(SNFs) serve patients requiring preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative nursing care services for non-acute, long-term conditions. Specialized clinical and diagnostic services are obtained outside the nursing home. Most residents are frail and aged and often use canes, walkers, or wheelchairs. Nursing homes also care for a smaller percentage of restorative patients of all ages like a rehabilitation and other residents are in long-term recovery from acute illnesses, but no longer require hospitalization.

Although it does not usually make news headlines and is rarely discussed, nursing home residents and the elderly experience abuse sometimes on a daily basis. Medical errors, physical abuse, or stealing from them could all be classified as abuse. All around the world today, a population that is not able to help itself is being harmed, whether it is physical or sexual abuse, exploitation, or not being properly supervised; the elderly and nursing home residents are being abused.

In the Journal of JAMA, Volume 302: Issue no. 5 published on August 5 2009 Elder Self-neglect and Abuse and Mortality Risk in a Community-Dwelling Population. The authors: X. Dong, MD, Melissa Simon, MD, Mph, Carols Mendes de Leon, PhD, Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, Todd Beck, MS, Liesi Herbert, ScD, Carmel Dyer, MD, Gregory Paveza PhD, MSW, Denis Evans, MD argue that both elder self-neglect and abuse is becoming more clear in regards to public health concerns, and that elder self-neglect or abuse is linked with mortality and not just on those that were vulnerable. In addition, that both elder neglect and abuse reported to social agencies there was an increased risk of mortality (Dong et al., 2009, p. 517).

In long term care facilities, or nursing homes as they are often referred to are facilities in which residents live, whom are usually of the older population and are cared for by nurses and nursing assistants. The ratio of residents to nursing assistants can vary by state and shift, for example in Ohio there may not be more than fifteen residents per nursing assistant in a shift in order for residents to receive the optimum amount of care possible. Nursing homes can not only include parts in which they provide skilled care by Nurses and Nursing Assistants, but also assisted living for those who just need help from time to time or assistance managing their medication. Residents still have the right to choice when in a nursing home and they are

An estimated twenty-one percent of nursing home residents are neglected at least once in the past twelve months and more than twenty-four percent are abused at least once during their entire stay (Schub & Kornusky, 2014). In a study of 718 family members and others responsible for those ages 60 and older receiving long-term care in a nursing home, an assisted living facility or paid homecare, nearly 30 percent reported at least one instance of elder abuse in the past year. Neglect was the most common form and sexual abuse the least (Anetzberger, 2012).

The information contained in this report was gathered in a private nursing home over 2 weeks that for the sake of this essay, be called “facility x”

Most people dread nursing homes because it conjures up all types of negative images. Unfortunately, many of the stories that we hear are true. Despite all the attention this issue has received recently, neglect in nursing homes continues at an alarming rate. A large majority of nursing home residents report some type of neglect every year. Tragically, only a few come to light as most seniors either do not have the ability to communicate or are simply too afraid to speak up.

Comfort Keepers even has specialists to care for seniors suffering from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or facing end of life situations. What about the senior who simply needs short-term assistance while recovering from an acute medical issue? This is where interim home care comes into play.

Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) – a facility that provides care services and assisted living to the older persons living within in it.

When faced with the task of finding long term care for a loved one, what is of utmost importance when finding facilities in your area? Is it the amenities? The resources offered? Or the staff members that provide some of the most intimate cares to your loved one? While it might not be the first thing that comes to mind, the nursing staff in long term care facilities create the atmosphere for those who live in it. In fact, the increased turnover rates in long term care facilities has been shown to have a negative impact on the care that your loved one receives. These turnover rates “increase catheter use, restraint use, disruptions in the continuity of care, the probability of medical errors, the risk of developing contractures and pressure

In the United States, the size of the geriatric population will rise 19% more than the current population, in the next 20 years, and the number of elderly abuse cases will increase as the proportion of geriatrics grows (Hoover & Polson, 2014). According to the Journal of the American Society on Aging (2014), more than 5 million elderly persons in the US have experienced abuse or neglect; however, only 7% of cases are reported (Rosen, 2014). In most states, healthcare workers have professional and legal obligations to report elder abuse to Adult Protective Services (APS) (Hoover & Polson, 2014). Nurses, especially in the emergency room (ER), can be the first people who encounter

According to Statistic Brain, 91 percent of nursing homes currently lack the staff needed to properly care for their residents and 36 percent have violated elderly abuse laws one or more times. Abuse comes in many forms, with neglect being the most common, accounting for 58.5 percent of cases. Physical abuse, financial exploitation, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and other abuse types have also been reported, thus individuals with a loved one in a nursing home need to ensure they are receiving proper care at all times. In the event something does go wrong and the nursing home and/or its staff members are responsible, a nursing home abuse attorney should be contacted immediately.

Moreover, physical restraints have been associated with cognitive impairment, nosocomial infections, pressure sores and death (Lund and Sheafor, 1985). As time pursues with innovation and change, the image of nursing home facilities needs to be restored as an environment that adheres to the federal regulations, as well as restoring the image of being a safe haven that still has the luxury of being compared to a personal home.

Elders in the United States should not have to go through situations of abuse like the one Mildred Mortenson suffered. However, this type of situations happen more often than they should and sadly, there is not enough being done to prevent it. Elder abuse should be recognized as an increasing and very serious problem in our society. As elders grow more physically frail and begin to depend on others to meet their basic needs, they tend to become vulnerable to intentional abuse and neglect within their own home as well as assisted living facilities such as nursing homes. Unfortunately, it is not possible to know exactly how many elders are being abused across the Nation. Due to under-reporting, variations in the definition of elder abuse,

Elderly abuse in nursing homes in America is an uprising issue. Elders make up a large portion of our population and they deserve the equality. This issue is very important because eventually this could affect you personally, or a loved one in your family. I stand for better environments in these nursing homes and find it terrible that elders get treated so poorly. The reason the number of reports on elder abuse has gone up so rapidly in the past decade is because the number of elders has drastically risen. There is an increase in the number of elders not only because Americans are living longer than ever before, but also because the next generation of senior citizens is larger than ever before. It has been predicted