Nursing Home Understaffing: A Cause of Elder Abuse & Neglect

Nursing home understaffing is a serious issue that often contributes directly to elderly abuse and neglect. Because nursing homes are for-profit businesses, it is common for facilities to cut costs by reducing staff size. Unfortunately, fewer caregivers means less caregiving, often resulting in a lower quality of life for nursing home residents.

Abuse and Neglect Aren’t Always Intentional

Nursing home caregivers are often overworked. Even the most dedicated, passionate caregivers may not be able to provide adequate attention to residents, no matter how hard they try. While using monitoring systems for the elderly can help lighten the workload by making it easier to keep tabs on residents, human resources are still essential to the operation of a nursing facility.

While some unintentional abuse and neglect can be directly attributed to nursing home understaffing, the sad reality is that some caretakers may become frustrated by the lack of needed staff, which can manifest in intentional abuse and neglect. While these deliberate cases of abuse are significantly less prevalent than unintentional cases, they do occur.

Risks Associated with Understaffing

Studies have shown that senior citizens who live at understaffed facilities have an increased risk of many potential health issues, including unhealthy weight loss, malnutrition, bed sores, dehydration, infections, and pneumonia. This is why it’s important to check in on your loved one regularly to report any new health issues you may notice to the person’s physician quickly.

What You Can Do

If you are worried that your loved one may be experiencing neglect and abuse associated with nursing home understaffing, you may want to look into home care options. Not only is letting your loved one live at home cheaper, but it helps elevate the person’s quality of life by giving them a sense of familiarity and belonging. Assisted Living Services, a sister company of Assisted Living Technologies, offers quality home care serviced paired with free technology through their CarePlus program.

If home care isn’t an option, you can request your loved ones’ caregivers to use an effective monitoring system for elderly individuals, providing them with the device and its instructions. Modern caregiver technology can both help to prevent accidents and keep caregivers and residents personally connected — even when human resources are limited. Moreover, take a proactive approach to ensuring that potential understaffing issues are not affecting quality of care.

Order Dependable Care Solutions

Assisted Living Technologies provides innovative products that supplement the work of caregivers, allowing them to perform their jobs more effectively. If you are concerned about nursing home understaffing, please call us at (203) 235-TECH (8324), or message us through our contact form, so we can help you explore solutions for alleviating your concerns. Find the best monitoring systems for elderly and special needs individuals at Assisted Living Technologies today.