Understaffing causes loss of dignity
The Times Union had an article about a nursing home failing to respond to call bells leading to residents soiling themselves and losing their dignity, or trying to get up unassisted and increasing the chances of falling. Residents at Glendale Home were forced to wait to use the bathroom, sometimes so long that they relieved themselves in their beds or on the floor, because of a shortage of workers. The nursing home received a $20,800 federal fine.
In September 2008, six residents of the Glendale Home recounted for Health Department interviewers how they felt humiliated when no one answered their call bells for help getting to the toilet.
"We definitely had that deficiency in that period of time," said Schenectady County spokesman Joseph McQueen. He said the facility in Scotia redeployed staff to handle the workload after a study that helped determine when call-bell use was highest. Additionally, he said, staff attended "dignity" training and the nursing home surveyed residents to ensure the bathroom problem had been addressed. No additional workers were hired.
Certified nurse aides and other employees admitted that on certain days the facility was short-staffed, sometimes to the point that residents were also not turned in their beds increasing the risk of pressure ulcers, and not bathed frequently enough. Inspectors learned about problems encountered by one resident who had lived at the nursing home for only a month and needed the assistance of two staff members and a mechanical lift to get out of bed.
"She stated that sometimes staff would become angry with her for calling out when they were so busy and tell her she would have to wait," the inspector reported after speaking with the resident and her daughter. "She also stated that when she was waiting for help she would be in pain from the urgency of needing to void. The resident said that on several occasions she had wet herself while waiting for the staff and that she was mortified and embarrassed that she wet her bed."
The state inspectors said they observed another resident who was unclothed from the waist down as he tried to use a bed pan. The resident later said he was yelling out for someone to close the door to his room, the report said.
