Understaffing can indirectly cause nursing home abuse

In most reported nursing home abuse cases, wrongful action has predominantly been the most common form of abuse. For this reason, a misguided notion regarding nursing home abuse has been prevalent.

However, other forms of abuse, including understaffing, surprisingly bear the same degree of prevalence. An understaffed nursing facility can indirectly cause abuse to your loved one.

What’s the correlation of understaffing to nursing home abuse?

There are many reasons why the management of a nursing facility may understaff their facility. Here are some of the common reasons:

The high cost of labor

The most common reason a nursing home owner may intentionally understaff a facility is to minimize labor costs and the overall cost of running the facility. This greatly compromises the ratio of staff to those being cared for. When a nursing home is understaffed, the possibility of neglect, negligence, improper care, and medication errors increases. This directly results in wrongful action.

The hope that employees will fill staffing gaps

Some nursing homes understaff their facility and hope their employees will fill staffing gaps. Unfortunately, this may cause unintended side effects on the overworked employees, the nursing home operations, and the patients.

In an understaffed facility, employees may be required to work long hours and do extra work without extra pay. This evokes dissatisfaction, and they can lack the motivation to complete their duties. As a result, neglect and improper care can occur.

Understaffing can directly lead to abuse

A delicate balance must be maintained when it comes to a patient’s medical, mental, and physical needs. Therefore, patients will eventually suffer when there is a high ratio of patients to nurses.

If you suspect a loved one is experiencing neglect due to understaffing in a nursing facility, you may need legal assistance to help you get fair compensation and stop others from having the same poor care.