Cameras Infiltrate Nursing Homes

The other morning I read this article from the New York Times: Watchful Eye in Nursing Homes.

[My friends often have called me an "old soul" but I looked into it for reasons beyond that. I currently work as a certified nurse aide (CNA) at a local assisted living facility. Always triggering deep thoughts.]

To sum it up, nursing home abuse has been brought to question. The story of an elderly lady's neglect was only revealed in truth due to hidden cameras placed in the room by the family - who became suspicious when items they bought for their mother suddenly disappeared. The video also revealed the nursing assistants abusing their mother verbally and physically. 

I'm not surprised, but calling attention to a specific instance makes it much more real to the rest of us. When I first started working, I became very conscious of the fact that we, who were being paid slightly above minimum wage, were entrusted with the very well-being of so many - often in one-on-one interactions. In some cases, care cannot be verified, since most of the work is done privately between the patient and aide. It's actually a really scary thought. 

You're letting your mom being taken care of by aides you may have never met. You're trusting the facility to hire caring, diligent aides. 

When I started training where I work now, I noticed little things  - even the most seemingly hardworking aide would occasionally skip steps, ie. not using toilet paper after the patient used the bathroom, not brushing their teeth before bed, etc. (The latter is a commonly skipped step due to inadequate staffing - which leads to even bigger problems of oral care and potentially causing death.)

In my opinion, however, this article is only bringing out a side effect of the major, long-lasting problem of inadequate staffing, especially nurse aides. Granted, purposeful abuse is difficult to detect already, but if facilities weren't so desperate for workers, well, it could be minimized simply by choice in candidates. 

{Here's a story: there exists two sides where I work - one being the independent assisted living, the other brig locked down for patients with Alzheimer's and dementia. One notorious aide used to work on the assisted living side - now she only works on the memory care side. Rumor has it that she has been rude and neglectful, refusing to help when asked. Family members complained. 

So why is she now on the side with those with dementia? Because they are unable to report it, due to their memory loss. When they do remember, other aides have told me of some complaints by residents: there is this aide that throws my clothes at me in the morning and yanks my arms, shouting at me to put them on.}

It's a complicated world out there, everyone. 

Adequate staffing would:

- lessen the amount of work per aide, allowing more time 

- more time means more mouth care, emotions care, one-on-one time

- lessen number of falls and accidents

- greater job satisfaction and patient satisfaction

- higher staff retention rate

- save costs on medication (when patients are agitated) 

You get the idea.

Cameras have never been implemented as a requirement, due to the ethical controversy over privacy. I think it's quite sad, though when such measures have to be taken to ensure quality care. What does that say about our system of healthcare and trust?

But when almost everything in this world is based upon profit - well, I'll leave it up to you to discern.