New Mexico Nursing Home Advocate News : New Mexico Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers & Attorneys : Harvey Law Firm : Neglect, Resident Rights : Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Santa Fe

The Gerontologist has published a study conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center suggesting that nursing staff is happier and more satisfied with their jobs at nonprofit nursing homes.

"Ownership status was significantly related to job satisfaction; RNs working in for-profit nursing homes were less satisfied."

The study surveyed nearly 900 registered nurses working in almost 300 skilled nursing facilities.  The nurses' ability to set policies and procedures and adequacy of resources and staff significantly affected their job satisfaction.

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The recent federal health care legislation requires that all employers with more than 50 employees provide affordable health care insurance for their workers.  Unfortunately, as it stands now, many nursing home staff simply cannot afford the health care coverage that their employers provide, and go without coverage entirely. 

As this article in the New York Times points out, it is especially important for health care workers, like nursing home employees, to be healthy, to receive regular preventative care, and to be able to obtain medical care whenever needed.  All too easily, a sick worker can spread her illness to a very vulnerable population. 

However, according to the Times article, at Lakeview Christian Home in Carlsbad, New Mexico, less than half of the employees have health coverage, because many cannot afford the $25/month they would have to pay.  In fact, over a quarter of front-line nursing home employees are not insured, according to the article. 

As the Times reports, though, rather than try to ensure that the nation's nursing home workers have access to affordable health insurance, the nursing home lobby is instead working to create loopholes for nursing homes. 

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This week's New York Times' Health section offers suggestions for families choosing a nursing home for a loved one.  

The article recognizes that, unfortunately, the majority of nursing home placements come after a person has been hospitalized, and that families often have very little time to fully explore their options.  However, many of these suggestions are useful even if you do not have much time before you have to decide upon a particular nursing home. 

The article suggests that you visit medicare.gov, and use their Nursing Home Compare tool to help get a picture of the facilities in your area.  We covered this topic in more detail here. 

The article also emphasizes the importance of visiting potential nursing homes, preferably at different times of the day, and using this checklist to review basic aspects of the nursing home. 

Also important in choosing the right home for your loved one is the nursing home's guiding philosophy.  The article suggests that you ask about "person-centered care" and "consistent assignment," burgeoning trends in the nursing home industry that can increase the quality of resident care.  While person-centered care focuses on allowing the residents to make their own schedules and maintain a degree of autonomy, consistent assignment focuses on the staff of the nursing home.  In a nursing home which practices consistent assignment, the same caregivers, nurses, and doctors attend to the same person as regularly as possible--allowing them to create lasting relationships, which positively affects the resident's care.  High staff turnover, on the other hand, can mean that resident care suffers--which is why the article suggests that you avoid nursing homes with over 50% annual turnover. 

Finally, it recommends you call your local Ombudsman's program to learn more about facilities you may be considering.  In New Mexico, the Ombudsman's bureau is a division of the state Aging and Long-Term Services Department.  Information on this program can be found at its website.  In New Mexico, there are five local and regional ombudsmen, in addition to the State Ombudsman. 

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