Risks in Nursing Home Facilities essay
Nowadays the United States is experiencing the growth of an elder population, who are 65 years old or older. Specialists say that during the next 25 years the number of elder people in the country will grow twice more and by the year 2030 one fifth of the whole population of The United States will be 65 and even older (Coleman, 2011). Old and disabled people in the US can be taken care of by nursing homes, where they can get a professional medical treatment. It is reported, that The United States had 16.100 nursing homes in 2004. From 1,6 million beds in nursing houses, 1,376,000 are already filled, that makes 86 per cent. Due to different reasons, including the desire to make maximum profits of nursing houses, the one’s residents may face some of the risks while being there (Campbell, 2011).
The typical or actual risks in nursing home facilities are:
– Lack of Qualified Staff
Badly educated personnel can make physical injuries to personnel or/and inhabitants. Nursing home personnel must be properly educated on how to organize inhabitant food, be informed on inhabitants who have allergic reactions and know what those particular allergic reactions are, and be aware of physical and mental problems that inhabitants have, for instance, a fractured hip, vision impairment or dementia. Moreover, nursing home staff should have patience, be flexible and have a strong understanding and desire to help for old people regardless of their cultures, genders or style of living. Lack of qualified staff can cause short-term or lasting injury to inhabitants and place the nursing home in a risk of getting a low evaluation from inspection organizations (Campbell, 2011).
– Shortage of Funds
Permanent debates around the Medicare paying capacity can be the first sign of a possible jeopardy of nursing homes withdrawing from sponsorship of funds supported by such governmental organizations as Medicare and Medicaid and funding organizations. The increase of cost of residential stay at nursing facilities may cause the refusal of relatives to apply to such services. If the amounts of families that refuse from nursing homes facilities become significant, then it can be destructive for nursing homes. In addition, different types of in home insurance programs might also displace nursing home funds.
– Physical and Mental Abuse
Physical and mental abuse of inhabitants can create probable legal problems for nursing home staff if they are not cared properly. If the personnel at the nursing homes are not properly examined on their criminal background, their mental of physical problems can be hidden till the critical moment. Is stressful situations, they can express their stress via violence or abuse towards inhabitants.
There are several risks in nursing home facilities and all of them may negatively affect the organization and its stakeholders. Thus, the main think the stakeholders should do is to minimize them.
