Is the Nurse Taking Care of your Mother a "Temp"?
Posted by
Dan FrithDecember 27, 2007 6:04 AMWe all are concerned, rightfully, over the care our family members receive in nursing homes. You would have to be blind and deaf not to read, hear, and see all of the problems the nursing home industry in America!
The most critical aspect of getting good care in a nursing home is the quality and training of the nursing staff. However, the problem is that most nursing homes are under-staffed and the staff that is present is under-paid, over-worked, and under-trained. Many times the nurse taking care of your mother is not even an employee of the nursing home - she is a "temp nurse" supplied by one of thousand temporary worker supply agencies.
Most nursing homes do a fair job of background screening on new hires. Typically, this means verifying their education and work history, along with conducting a criminal background investigation. The last thing we need is for a nurse with a criminal history taking care of the elderly and infirm.
Kudos to the state of Louisiana! The Louisiana's health care industry wants additional oversight of the staffing agencies that provide temporary nurses to medical facilities.
Some staffing agencies that provide temporary nurses to facilities like nursing homes conduct statewide criminal background checks and drug screening on nurses and nurse aides. But not all are so thorough and the state Department of Health and Hospitals has no oversight of medical staffing agencies. Louisiana Nursing Home Association Executive Director Joseph Donchess said nurse aides provided through staffing agencies are simply warm bodies to be counted if an inspector visits to check staffing ratios. They are often unfamiliar with the patient, that particular nursing home's procedures and mistakes happen.
We owe our parents more than this!