Overworked Staff in an Understaffed Nursing Home

Friday, September 27, 2013

Overworked Staff in an Understaffed Nursing Home

Nursing homes are facilities where the residents should be able to expect the utmost in compassionate care. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case, especially when a nursing home has too few staff members on hand. When nursing home employees have long hours or a lot of residents to look after, they may become stressed out or just plain too busy—and in a nursing home, that can lead to serious problems.

Medication Errors

Medication errors can happen all too frequently when a nursing home employee is overworked. They may look at the wrong chart for a patient and give the wrong medication or dose out the wrong amount of a prescription for someone. They may also simply forget or not have time to get to a resident’s required dosage. These errors can have significant consequences, from drug interactions, to sickness or even death. Being overworked, though unfortunate, is not an excuse for someone suffering from a medication error. If you or someone you care about has been the victim of a medication error in a nursing home, contact a nursing home neglect lawyer for help.

Bed Sores

Bed sores are painful infections that are a result of a resident in a nursing home or hospital being ignored. They are caused by nursing home staff not attending to a patient often enough—pressure ulcers, as they are also known, happen when a person is laying in one position for too long. They can become infected and cause serious problems and even death if left untreated. If you know someone who has bed sores, they are a clear indication that nursing home neglect is present. You should contact a nursing home abuse attorney and file a report against the nursing home as well if this is happening.

Verbal Abuse

As previously mentioned, an overworked staff can become easily stressed out. We’ve likely all been there in our own jobs, however medical professionals are required to maintain a level of compassionate care at all times in spite of high stress levels. That’s not always the case, however, and an employee may take their bad day out on a nursing home resident. This type of abusive behavior should not be tolerated, and nursing staff should be held accountable for their actions. Contacting a nursing home abuse lawyer for advice and help in this situation is the best first step you can take to rectify the problem.