Nursing home cutting corners (ex. understaffing) leads to patient's death

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

I dont know know what to make of this considering cutting corners is seen in the public sector, too. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Zeni's death raises crucial - and familiar - questions about for-profit nursing homes that have long been accused of sacrificing patient care to minimize costs and maximize bottom lines. Nursing homes owned by big corporations and private investment firms consistently performed poorly in terms of quality of care and are more likely than nonprofit and government facilities to be cited for "serious deficiencies" that harm residents, according to 2011 and 2016 reports by the Government Accountability Office. Staffing levels are usually lower, meaning trained nurses spend less time with residents each day."You must consider that the reimbursement rate from [Medicare] continues to fail to keep up with rising costs that's associated with care," said Prieto, who focuses on nursing-home litigation. "The only variable that's available for these for-profit facilities to ensure they continue to maximize their opportunity for profiting is staffing. Purposefully understaff facilities in an attempt to ensure maximum profit."

Avi Mukherjee, a professor at Marshall University who focuses on health-care management, said high staff turnovers, diminishing morale, and meager pay and benefits often result in low quality of care.

Source:

She modelled in New York and worked for the Navy. At 93, parasites ate her alive at a nursing home | National Post

[Sour Lemon]

That's way more severe than cutting corners.

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

No kidding, right. I don't understand.... I just can't fathom how the corporate entities who profit in these situations can live with themselves? How do they look their family and children in the eye? How can anyone be so evil to care so little about humanity.

[neuron]

No kidding, right. I don't understand.... I just can't fathom how the corporate entities who profit in these situations can live with themselves? How do they look their family and children in the eye? How can anyone be so evil to care so little about humanity.

With these corporations, not 'one' person is responsible, it is several. All they have to point the finger and they're off the hook. So they don't look bad. Really, the state has the authority to mandate better staffing, all they have to do is issue an "IJ' somehow and the nursing homes will not be able to take more admits, I believe that applies to facilities who accept medicare, but during the annual survey, it is not hard to see how understaffed these places are, that when they are surveyed administrators and DON's are working the floor so their facility will 'pass' the survey.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

When I was a surveyor, one place we entered had an entire section of rooms which had no call lights. The reason? "Those residents never use them." (!) That was an IJ tag, and by the end of the day there were call lights on that hall. Meanwhile, the DNS and RCMs were running around the facility in dresses and heels passing trays, answering call lights on the halls that had them, and generally behaving as if they did this all the time. We knew better. This facility was owned by a well-known corporation with a reputation for understaffing and substandard care. We were in there for ten days, and we issued a sizable number of F tags. I don't know how these companies get away with it, or how the people who run them can sleep at night, but they do.

[LovingLife123]

It makeshift me so sad for how she suffered.

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

CEOs/owners operating nursing homes are not known for their ethics or empathy/care for humanity. There's a popular nursing home chain in Toronto, ON Canada...the CEO/founder used to own and operate a bunch of strip clubs before moving into the booming business of elder care homes. His daughters are trust-fund ne'erdowells living off the profit of other people's suffering. These types of business people just hop from one exploitative opportunity to the next... even if it means killing people, and always lay a foundation to be able to point the finger of blame onto someone else. I advise all my new grad nursing students to be weary and cautious about employment opportunities in nursing homes and anywhere really where there is even a slight history of red flags.

As a nurse, I personally won't ever work in a nursing home facility because serious operational issues are prevelant (ex. Intentional understaffing, lack of supplies/resources, etc) that places patients and myself at increased risk for harm. I refuse to participate in this kind of abuse or help these corporations take advantage of vulnerable populations. I feel so sorry for how the patient in the article suffered and I'm glad her family is taking legal action against the nursing home.