Read a great letter from a dedicated but frustrated nurse commenting on the level of care in nursing homes today: "I’m a registered nurse and have 15 years of experience working in long-term care facilities in the area. The facilities are a disgrace to humankind.
The negligent care given to the geriatric population is sinful. The last facility I worked in for two years had more than 20 nurses come in with love in their hearts and quit with their hearts broken. The nurses usually have more than 25 patients to care for — passing medications, performing treatments, helping families and documenting the care being given, all with only the help of two certified nursing assistants, who provide the incontinent care and feeding and who help patients with bathing and passing fluids.
A lot of these health care personnel don’t move real fast and have to work two jobs because of their low wages. They also have families to care for at home.
Patients are supposed to receive treatments, some of them three times a day. They are lucky, however, if they receive one treatment. These facilities are charging Medicare and Medicaid for supplies and some patients are not getting their medications properly due to the large patient assignments the nurses and CNAs face."
The Daily Advance
