A nursing home’s role is to care for its patients, not compromise their health. Yet, across Connecticut, a number of facilities have come up short in fulfilling this most basic function.
This hour, we take an in-depth look at this issue. We talk with reporters, regulators, and advocates, and we also hear from you.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
GUESTS:
- Cara Rosner - Reporter for C-HIT, the Connecticut Health Investigative Team (@CaraRosner)
- Jordan Rau - Senior Correspondent at Kaiser Health News (@jordanrau)
- Barbara Cass, RN - Branch Chief of the Healthcare Quality and Safety Branch at the Connecticut Department of Public Health
- Mag Morelli - President of LeadingAge Connecticut
- Lori Smetanka -Executive Director of The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care
READING LIST:
C-HIT: Staffing Levels, Culture Challenge Quality Of Nursing Home Care - "Between 2015 and 2018, Connecticut nursing homes were cited by the state for 247 incidents involving lapses in care. Twenty-five of those cases involved incidents in which citations noted that two staff members were required to assist or move a resident and only one was used, according to a C-HIT analysis of DPH citations signed and finalized. Of those 25 incidents, 17 occurred between 2017 and this year."
Kaiser Health News: 'Like A Ghost Town': Erratic Nursing Home Staffing Revealed Through New Records - "Nearly 1.4 million people are cared for in skilled nursing facilities in the United States. When nursing homes are short-staffed, nurses and aides scramble to deliver meals, ferry bedbound residents to the bathroom and answer calls for pain medication. Essential medical tasks such as repositioning a patient to avert bedsores can be overlooked when workers are overburdened, sometimes leading to avoidable hospitalizations."
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
