Nursing Home Safety Issues

A posting at http://www.safetyissues.com in the website’s Senior Citizens’ section discusses a report of the Department of Health and Human Services concerning deficiencies found at nursing homes.  In an article entitled “Deficiencies Found in 90% of Nursing homes,” a Safety Issues staff writer says that the average nursing home in the U. S. had at least one deficiency, with for-profit homes getting more citations than homes operated by non-profits and local governments.  According to the article, the most common citations involved quality of care deficiencies, including deficiencies in the care and treatment administered on pressure sores and urinary tract infections.  As the article further states, nearly 20% of homes received citations for immediate jeopardy, abuse, neglect, or actual harm caused to the resident, but, when such incidents occurred, the event was usually isolated.  However, the article also reported that the inspector general warned of some homes which may have failed to provide sufficient staff with appropriate expertise.  In addition, the article noted that the American Health Care Association criticized the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspection system, claiming it is flawed, does not evaluate the quality of services in a reliable way, and fails to set up positive incentives to improvement.  A safety tip offered at the article’s conclusion included a suggestion to carefully compare facilities and services of nursing homes, indicating that non-profit homes may be more likely to provide better care.