No Training Will Prevent Situations Involving Stupidity From Occurring At Some Nursing Homes
Recognizing that staff may lack training in certain areas essential to patient care, many nursing homes have begun to implement training programs at their facilities to help teach proper protocols-- and hopefully improve patient care. While the training can be quite effective in terms of improving the satisfaction of patients and prevention of medical errors, no amount of training will suffice in order to prevent situations involving harm to patients stemming from a basic lack of common sense or carelessness. I began thinking about how many common errors involving injuries to patients in nursing homes derive not from improper medical...
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Innocent Mistake? Or Was Nursing Home's Delay In Notifying Health Department Of Norovirus Outbreak Intentional?
As many as 80 patients and staff at a California Nursing Home have become ill due to an outbreak of norovirus at their facility. The first symptoms of illnesses related to norovirus were first reported on November 6th at Country Villa Healthcare Center in Novato, CA. Several of the patients became so ill that they required treatment at a hospital. However, it wasn't until November 10th that officials at Country Villa elected to notify public health officials. The delay in reporting the norovirus outbreak significantly impair efforts by state officials to secure the origin of this outbreak. But was the...
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Nursing Home Injury Laws: California
Number of nursing homes in California : 1,226 Patients living in California nursing homes: 100,578 Occupancy rates of California nursing homes: 84.8% Average number of deficiencies at each California nursing home: 12.6 Percent of California nursing homes with serious deficiencies for actual harm to patient: 11.8% Most common deficiencies at California nursing homes: Food Sanitation, Quality of Care, Comprehensive Care Plans Distribution of ownership of California nursing homes: 80% for profit, 16% non profit, 4% government Most populated cities in California: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Fracisco, Fresno, Sacramento Staffing levels at California nursing homes (daily hours): Above...
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Under-Staffing At Nursing Homes: When There's Simply Not Enough Staff To Protect Patients From Harm
Rightfully so, under-staffing in nursing homes remains a significant threat to the health and safety of the vulnerable people who rely on staff for their care. While many situations involving a patient injury may be suspected to be related to under-staffing, it frankly can be a difficult concept to establish specific staffing level requirements at nursing homes across the board because the needs may vary drastically from facility to facility. One of the most identifiable problems I associate with under-staffing in nursing homes is when facilities simply do not supply enough to transfer immobile patients into or out of beds...
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Elder Abuse Lawsuit: Woman Accuses Nursing Home Of Unnecessary Drugging In Order To Take Over Social Security Payments
Very disturbing allegations have surfaced in a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed against a California nursing home by a former patient at the facility. Marsha Davis has filed a lawsuit against Country Villa of Seal Beach alleging that the facility improperly gave her psychotropic medications (Ativan) without a prescription in order to take over her social security payments. If proved to be true, this is undoubtedly a form of elder abuse both in terms of the inappropriate drugging as well as the misappropriation of the woman's finances. According to Medicare regulations applicable to nursing homes: each resident’s drug regimen must...
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Improperly Placed Feeding Tube Results In Death Of Nursing Home Patient
A California nursing home was recently fined after state investigators determined that they failed to ensure a patients stomach feeding tube (gastrostomy tube or g-tube) was inserted properly. Rather than delivering food and medication directly to the man's stomach, the tube was delivering the materials to his peritoneal cavity resulting in inflammation, respiratory failure, septic shock-- and ultimately the patients death. As a consequence of this nursing error, California officials find The Orchard Post Acute Care facility $75,000. For patients with swallowing difficulties or other medical complications, insertion of a feeding tube may be necessary in order for the patient...
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Jail Time For Nursing Home Workers Involved In Abuse Of Elderly
The saying goes, "something is better than nothing" may be quite applicable when it comes to getting a slice of cherry pie for desert--- or perhaps other innocently gluttonous activities. But I'm not so sure if I want that phrase to apply to situations when it comes to punishment for those who have committed crimes involving abuse of the elderly. Recently, we discussed how workers at a California Nursing Home covered their patients with slippery ointment to play a joke on the following shift who would have difficulty handling them. The sophomorish prank may have appeared like innocent fun---...
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Suicide Investigation Reveals Nursing Home Ignored Patients Self Destructive Behavior
An investigation into the suicide of a young man at a California nursing home reveals a disturbing situation where a facility obviously ignored the man's mental health needs. On February 28, 2011 the patient commit suicide at Verdugo Valley Skilled Nursing and Wellness Center when he discharged a fire extinguisher into his mouth. While the incident is indeed disturbing, the man had attempted the exact same behavior on three prior occassions at the facility according to a news report in the Glendale Free Press. The incident resulted in civil fines and against the facility and criminal charges against both the facility...
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What Good Is Medical Technology When It Is Not Used Properly?
With all of the great strides we have seen in the field of medicine, one can only hope that patients in medical facilities are better off today than their peers were in the past. However, as will all types of patient care, technologies have little use when not in the hands of properly trained and skilled workers. A reminder of just how crucial staff training is to the patient care experience comes from the headlines in California when staff at Community Hospital of San Bernardino elected to disconnect an alarm on a ventilator needed by a patient with breathing difficulties....
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How Much Do Nursing Home Need To Be Fined In Order To Clean Up Their Acts
Many of my blog entries focus on sad incidents where a nursing home patient has received seemingly horrific care during an admission to a nursing home. Many of these incidents indeed get investigated by state agencies and--- in some cases-- the facilities receive a fine. Most nursing home fines are controlled by individual states. However, even within each state, the fines are indeed arbitrary. I mean what is the cutoff between a nursing home getting fined $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000? Sure there may be varying degrees of patient injury or culpable behavior on the part of the facility, but ultimately...
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