Injuries Due to Understaffing in Nursing Homes

Understaffing in nursing homes can contribute to preventable injury. Despite minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes, many facilities remain chronically understaffed. Inadequate care can result in acute injury and chronic harm.

Too often, nursing homes put their profit first. When they don’t prioritize patient care, residents suffer.

Jordan Law Center’s Greenville nursing home abuse lawyer explains injuries due to understaffing in nursing homes.

The Problem of Nursing Home Understaffing

NCAL (The National Center for Assisted Living) reports that 99% of nursing homes surveyed have current job openings. The shortage is especially severe for registered nurses (RN), with 89% of nursing homes seeking RNs to join their workforce.

Many nursing homes report that, despite pay increases, bonuses, and paid training and education, it is difficult to find qualified staff. Forty-six percent of nursing homes indicate they must turn admissions away weekly or monthly because of understaffing.

In a PBS report about understaffed nursing homes, a witness says that low staff levels lead to cutting corners. They note that daily hygiene, medication dispensing, and bedding changes suffer because of staffing issues in long-term care facilities.

The Connection Between Understaffing and Resident Injuries

Even when workers are qualified and well-intentioned, understaffing can prevent them from providing adequate care. Ways that inadequate staffing can lead to resident injury are wide-ranging.

• A staff member rushing to provide care for residents fails to read patient records carefully. They make a medical error, resulting in harm. In an understaffed facility, staff members may feel pressure to cut corners, resulting in insufficient care.
• There is a lack of monitoring, so staff members do not get to know their residents. This lack of familiarity prevents staff from recognizing signs of distress.
• Care becomes inconsistent. The resident can’t rely on receiving care, resulting in poorer health outcomes and mental anguish.
• A patient may use a mobility assistance device that should have been replaced. They may not have adequate railings in their room, or the flooring may be inappropriate. A fall may occur.
• Chronic neglect may result in infrequent repositioning. Bedding may not be changed often enough, and the result may be bedsores and chronic infection.
• Lack of personnel may result in poor attention to daily needs. A patient may not receive routine grooming, or their nutritional needs may be neglected. The result may be an overall health decline.
• When incidents and injuries occur, the response may be rushed. Workers may feel pressured to focus on immediate, daily needs rather than determining what happened and how to prevent similar incidents.
• Without sufficient support, caregivers may become frustrated. Their frustration may lead to treating residents poorly, including neglecting their needs or assault and battery.

The connection between understaffing and resident injury can be subtle. An attorney can investigate whether staffing levels contributed to an injury or illness.

Common Injuries Caused by Nursing Home Understaffing

Examples of injuries caused by nursing home understaffing include the following:

• Brain trauma, concussion, skull fracture, resulting from a fall
• Broken bones, sprains, strains, and bruises from falling
• Symptoms of dehydration or inadequate nutrition, including immune system malfunction, kidney damage, fatigue, discomfort, and muscle cramps
• Bedsores or spread of infection due to inadequate bedding changes and poor sanitation in the facility
• Harm from failing to receive medication, drug interactions, providing care to the wrong patient, or missing treatment when needed. Harm may include slower recovery, internal damage, systemic failures, and wrongful death
• Blunt force trauma due to assault and battery
• Infection, spread of disease throughout the facility
• Mental health suffering and distress because residents cannot depend on care

Harm may be immediate, or the patient may have a worsened outcome over time.

Why Nursing Homes Become Understaffed

Understaffing can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be for many reasons.

• Intentional understaffing to reduce operating expenses
• Educational programs that do not produce enough graduates to meet the demand
• Failing to adjust pay to attract qualified candidates
• Judgment errors in determining the number of appropriate staff
• Devoting inadequate resources to recruiting and onboarding staff
• Overscheduling workers, resulting in burnout
• A sudden incident that results in the departure of a significant number of staff members
• Poor working conditions, inadequate resources to provide care, and other factors that lead to high turnover

Warning Signs of an Understaffed Nursing Home

When you or a family member lives in a care facility, or you’re considering a residential home, it’s important to recognize warning signs of understaffing. You may notice a lack of available personnel to greet you at the facility. Residents may be confined to their rooms without reason.

The condition of the facility can be an indicator. General disrepair and a lack of cleanliness can signal poor staffing. Residents may appear disheveled, or you may see little interaction between residents and caregivers.

Legal Liability for Injuries in Understaffed Nursing Homes

A nursing home has a duty to its residents. This duty isn’t just a moral duty; it is also a legal obligation. Understaffing can amount to neglect. When nursing homes fail to provide adequate staffing, they may be liable for injury.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by inadequate staffing in a nursing home, you may have a claim for financial compensation.

The legal standard is what’s reasonable. Regulations for minimum staffing levels may be an indication of negligence, but staffing can be inadequate even when the facility meets the minimum requirements. It’s a case-by-case evaluation, applying a standard of reasonableness to determine nursing home liability for inadequate staffing.

How a Greenville Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Can Help

A nursing home abuse lawyer can investigate whether understaffing caused harm to a person living in a care facility. They can use the legal process to gather records of staffing levels. They understand the laws and regulations for nursing homes that may apply.

The Greenville nursing home abuse lawyer at Jordan Law Center can also collaborate with experts to demonstrate how understaffing caused harm in your case. They can evaluate damages and take the necessary steps to claim your compensation.

Contact

If you or a loved one has been hurt in a nursing home, please contact Jordan Law Center. Our lawyers handle claims involving understaffing in nursing homes. We can review your case and represent you in a claim for compensation. Call or message us now.