Unfortunately, these federal standards have not ensured that facilities have sufficient numbers of well-qualified and well-trained nursing staff to meet residents' increasingly complex needs. Under the Nursing Home Reform Law, the determination of how many staff members are "sufficient" is left up to individual facilities. Since 1990, federal law has required that facilities have registered nurses (RNs) eight hours per day, licensed nurses around the clock, and otherwise, "sufficient" staff to meet residents' needs.
#PREVENTABLE ED VISITS PROFESSIONAL#
The lack of sufficient numbers of professional and paraprofessional nursing staff is a longstanding concern in nursing facilities. Insufficient Staffing is a Longstanding Problem in Nursing Facilities
Higher nurse staffing levels at all levels can also help achieve health care reform's goal of reducing unnecessary rehospitalizations. More professional nursing staff in nursing facilities could treat residents' more complex medical needs, and more paraprofessional nursing staff could, for example, answer call bells more quickly and assist residents with transfers, preventing many of the avoidable injuries from falls. Other conditions prompting ED visits, such as those related to falls or pneumonia, may have been avoided by preventing the adverse health event itself.ĬDC's findings suggest that many ED visits by residents could have been prevented with better nurse staffing levels at the nursing facilities. Ome of these conditions, such as urinary tract infections, could be more appropriately treated in the nursing home. Ĭiting the extensive research literature on the hospitalization of nursing home residents, the CDC reports: 56% of these residents took nine or more medications, compared to 50% of other residents.
Residents with potentially preventable ED visits had shorter lengths of stay in their nursing home prior to their hospitalization and took more medications than other residents.
#PREVENTABLE ED VISITS SKIN#
Īccording to the CDC, potentially avoidable ED visits resulted from injuries from falls (36%), heart conditions (19%), pneumonia (12%), and other conditions (mental status changes, urinary tract infections, gastrointestinal bleeding symptoms, fever, metabolic disturbances, skin diseases) (33%). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports in 2010 that, in 2004, 8% of nursing home residents nationwide – 123,600 individuals – had an emergency department (ED) visit in the prior 90 days and that 40% of the ED visits, involving 50,300 residents, were preventable. One of the goals of health care reform is the reduction of unnecessary hospital readmissions of patients.
Join the Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle.Career, Fellowship & Internship Opportunities.Ossen Medicare Outreach, Education and Advocacy Project.Connecticut Dually Eligible Appeals Project.The Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle.CMA Annual Report | Fiscal Year July 2021 – June 2022.Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility Care.
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