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Does Your Nursing Home Have Enough Nurses?
by Dan Frith
It is our experience that having a sufficiently large nursing staff is the one factor which indicates whether a nursing home can (or is) providing good care. Nursing home residents need nursing care….and they need that care 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Federal law requires all certified nursing homes have a Registered Nurse serving as the Director of Nursing. Further, a Registered Nurse must be on duty 8 hours per day/ 7 days per week and a Licensed Practical Nurse on duty for evenings and nights. Federal law requires each facility to have a nursing staff sufficient to provide nursing and related services to maintain the highest practical level of physical and mental well-being of each resident. Unfortunately, the federal law stops there and provides no guidelines as to what minimal level of staffing is required.
There are outside sources of information to answer this important question and tell us just what it takes to have a sufficiently staffed nursing home. The National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) is one of the best sources. NCCNHR provides information and leadership on federal and state regulatory and legislative development to improve care and life for residents of America’s nursing homes. NCCNHR believes that the "minimal level of staffing" should be 4.13 hours of available nursing time per resident per day . That is 4.13 hours per day for the nurse or aide to assist with dressing, hygiene, feeding, medication, bathing, therapy, assessment, treatment, wound care, and the list goes on and on and on…..
What do the nursing homes in our area of Virginia provide? Take a look at these numbers (taken from Virginia Health Information):
From this list we have prepared the following list of the "Top Ten" nursing homes which provide an adequate staff to care for its residents:
The law requires all certified nursing homes to publish daily the number of residents at the facility, the number of care providers and actual hours worked per shift at the nursing home. This information is critical!
Ask for it…study it…and make placement decisions based upon it!
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Dan Frith
is the founding partner of Frith Law Firm, P.C.,
a firm
focusing on medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, personal injury, lead paint poisoning and business torts. Copyright © 2004 by
Frith Law Firm, P.C. All rights reserved under U.S.
and international law.
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