Recent data published by Nursing Home 411 shows America’s nursing homes continue to struggle with low levels of nursing staff. Adequate staffing is one of the most important factors in providing quality care to nursing home residents. Unfortunately, the nursing home industry has a widespread problem in staffing their facilities with a sufficient number of nurses and medical personnel. The data analyzed by the nonprofit group included all nursing homes receiving Medicare in 2018. The highlights published by Nursing Home 411 include:
- Nursing homes spend an average of just 3.5 staff hours with each resident, per day. According to the nursing home advocacy group, the federal government states a minimum of 4.1 hours is required for the average resident.
- Nursing homes spend only 0.5 registered nurse staff hours with each resident, per day. A registered nurse is typically more capable and better educated compared to certified nursing assistants. Another federal study cited by Nursing Home 411 recommended increasing registered nurse hours by 10 to 50 percent each day to satisfactorily meet each nursing home resident’s healthcare needs.
- Nursing homes provide an average of 0.2 hours of staff-supervised activities and 0.1 hours of staff-supervised social work per resident, per day. This astoundingly low number may contribute to the current crisis of loneliness for many nursing home residents.
The informative website provides data on each nursing home facility’s number of residents and staffing levels.