Nurse Aide Turnover at Nursing Homes
We've talked a lot here about things you can look at when trying to choose a nursing home or assisted living facility for a loved one.
This article in today's New York Times highlights an important factor to examine when you are looking at the quality of care in any given nursing home: nursing aide turnover. According to the article, more than 70% of nurse aides change jobs within a given year.
The work that nurse aides do is invaluable. They provide the majority of hands-on care to nursing home residents, assisting them with eating, bathing, hygiene, and getting around. Given the difficult nature of this work, it is important that the aides are well-trained, working in a supportive environment, and being paid adequately for the work they do.
Unfortunately, as the article points out, this is very often not the case. Most troubling, high nursing aide turnover usually results in poorer care for the residents.
