The new norm. No place to go...

[BirdieBird, BSN]

Virtually all nurses are aware of a huge problem in our long-term care settings. Our residents are growing older and becoming more debilitated in their final years of life. As nurses, we can typically determine through our assessments when a resident has progressed to a level we can no longer keep healthy or safe. When this determination is made, nurses and residents face another problem: there is no where to discharge to. Skilled nursing facilities are filled to the max and are just barely staffed. As Nurse Manager in a large assisted living complex, I encounter this fact routinely. The end result is that my assisted living now closely resembles a nursing home. Really, we don't struggle with the physical declines as badly as we do with the progressive cognitive declines that are becoming more apparent every day. I do my best to create some pretty in depth Risk agreements, but that's about all I can do while we wait. Can anyone recommend on how to best prepare unlicensed staff for this change in acuity levels of residents? That would be our major struggle right now.

[ShayNeq65]

Same thing is happening at the assisted living facility I fill in at. I have said the same exact thing but it is what it is. 
I was discussing with the executive Director that we definitely need to be educating the staff more in on a more frequent regular basis.

The unlicensed personnel that work at the facility we hear complain over and over again how this is not an assisted living because people need so much help and I keep telling them unfortunately, that is the state of health for many elderly people now.

The demands of the residents/families wears many out and I believe a raise in pay and also some other things can be done on site to let our staff know that we truly appreciate them. 

If this were my facility/my business I would run it differently but all I can do is appreciative my staff by helping them out when I am able and to keep educating staff. 
 

God help us all!

??❤️✌?✌?✌️