Abuse In Nursing Home Abuse

Often times I have heard about nursing home abuse on television, news broadcasts, local and national journalists, and the media of residents being victimized. Currently throughout the United States, elderly and non-elderly individuals are placed in nursing home facilities for diverse causes. Aging parent’s declining health, mental incapacity, incontinence, restricted mobility, depression, poor family support, and the inability to function with every day daily task. The prerequisite before entering into a facility by law is to assess each resident’s physical capability, medical condition, psychological state, and financial ability. Loved ones of residents are challenged with the decision to continue with daily responsibilities in their own lives,

A 95-year-old woman while being transferred from her bed to a chair is dropped on her head with a laceration to her scalp and internal bleeding to the right side of her head due to a mechanical device failing. Consequently due to the mechanical failure, the sling that lifted her from her bed to the chair snapped sending her crashing to the floor. She died three months later because of these injuries. The National Ombudsmen Reporting System (NORS) uses a reporting tool to measure abuse and neglect in nursing home facilities. “The Old Americans Act in section 712 requires state long-term care ombudsmen to identify, investigate, and resolve complaints made by or on behalf of residents, and to ensure that residents have regular and timely access to ombudsman services”(Bloeman, Rosen, Clark, Nash, Mielenz, 2015,p.3). Complaints to include physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, financial exploitation and gross abuse have been tracked across the fifty (50) states in the United States. “The average findings of complaints were initiated by residents of 38%, relatives/friends of 20%, facility administrator or staff member of 17% (Bloeman, Rosen, Clark, Nash, Mielenz, 2015, p.5). With the progressive increase in the elderly population in nursing homes, resident abuse will intensify and increase. “As a registered nurse, I have seen abuse, neglect and mistreatment of residents”

Specific prolonged illnesses, such as diabetes, stroke, and mental conditions, Alzheimer’s diseases are determining factors of placement in a nursing home. Elderly persons who live alone with the inability to accomplish daily functions are another reason for placement. Finally, mild cognitive impairment which is considerably underdiagnosed is reason for placement in nursing homes. Understanding these issues, not all nursing home facilities have services that will provide residents with the necessary help needed. Since these residents must be placed into a facility, and nursing staff remains understaffed, short-handed, and overworked, consequently, abuse, neglect and mistreatment rise to the surface where residents reap this unethical behavior. “Elder mistreatment refers to intentional actions that cause harm or create a serious risk of harm whether or not harm is intended to a vulnerable elder by a caregiver or other person who stands in a trust relationship to the elder, or failure by a caregiver to satisfy the elder’s basic needs or to protect the elder from harm” (Daly, J.M., Merchant, M.L., & Jogerst, G.J, 2016, p.1). “The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the number of people aged over 60 will triple between 2000 and 2050” (Corbi, G.,Grattagliano, I., Ivshina, E., Ferrara, N., Solimeno-Cipriano, A., & Campobasso, C.P, 2015, p. 297). With this projection, elder mistreatment,