The 3 most common complaints / problems in nursing homes are:
- Poor food quality
- Poor response time to a call
- Poor sleep due to disruptions
Poor Food Quality
It can be very difficult to satisfy every palate in a nursing home so don’t expect everyone to be satisfied with the food that they are given.
The issue to check here is whether or not the kitchen staff is able to accommodate your loved one’s specific diet.
My mother was severely lactose intolerant and the first few days that she was in a nursing home she kept receiving dairy products at every meal. Either a container of milk, cheese in her sandwich, yogurt, etc. It took me almost a week to get the kitchen to give her the proper meals.
Poor Response Time
I have a friend who works in elder care. She told me that one thing you should always look out for is the staff-to-resident ratio, because this is a major factor that could tell whether or not your loved one is getting enough attention and care from those working there to take good of them 24/7.
If they’re really understaffed, this can cause problems like dry skin (which will then lead to bedsores), muscle weakness due to lack of activity and movement. Being understaffed contributes to increased stress levels among nurses which may result in decreased empathy towards residents’ needs – all red flags that something might be going wrong!
My mother was severely lactose intolerant and the first few days that she was in a nursing home she kept receiving dairy products at every meal. Either a container of milk, cheese in her sandwich, yogurt, etc. It took me almost a week to get the kitchen to give her the proper meals.
Poor Sleep
In a study of four Valley nursing homes, Schnelle found that occupants were subjected to a nightly cacophony of nurses gabbing, doors slamming and agitated patients shrieking. On average, residents were startled by 32 loud noises each night, he found.
LATimes.com
It’s a difficult balance for the staff to care for residents that need help during the night yet keep quiet enough to let the other residents sleep.
We’ve gone over some of the most important things to consider when deciding on a nursing home placement. Certainly add your own list of questions and concerns to this list when you begin this next adventure in your life.
If you would like some professional direction, you may want to speak to a geriatric care manager to help you with this very important decision.
