Injured by Incompetent Nursing Home Staff?
If you are considering nursing home care for your elderly loved one, a thorough evaluation of the nursing home facility is crucial. Some nursing homes may be understaffed. Understaffing can lead to a lack of training and improper supervision of residents. Poor training and supervision can cause nursing home abuse and neglect.
Evaluating Nursing Home Staff
Nurses and physicians should possess a high level of training in many areas, including anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, disease causation and treatment, and diet and nutrition. When evaluating a nursing home facility, ask questions about the credentials of medical professionals to ensure they possess the education and training to properly care for your loved one.
Every staff member, from doctors and nurses to trained staff and volunteers, should be fully knowledgeable of the physical needs of each patient. In particular, ask the nursing home administrators about specific staff training for patient transfers. Assisting patients to safely get in and out of bed, move to a chair or wheelchair, and use the bathroom must assure the patient’s complete comfort and protect the patient from devastating head trauma or other life-threatening injuries.
Abuse and Neglect from Improperly Trained Volunteers
A failure to properly train volunteer nursing home staff can stem from the nursing home administration’s lack of concern or a lack of funds. No volunteer should ever put your loved one in harm’s way. However, volunteer negligence can and does occur, largely because volunteer workers are not licensed, trained professionals.
Volunteers do not possess a proper understanding of diseases and their treatment, medication usage, and patient care. This lack of training and professional accountability can affect your loved one’s care, creating the potential for diminished quality of life or even wrongful death.
Medication Errors & Misuse
Nursing home patients often suffer from a wide variety of illnesses, requiring antipsychotic medications, pain medications, post-surgical medications, cardiovascular medications, and many other types of medications.
Abuse and neglect from improperly trained workers may involve misuse or abuse of medications. This may stem from true negligence or improper training in handling medications and dosages. Regardless of the cause, medication abuse or misuse can lead to traumatic injury or wrongful death for your loved one.
Common medication errors often involve:
- Overdosing or underdosing
- Administration of incorrect medication
- Failure to identify or react to adverse interactions
- Failure to obtain a complete medical history
- Miscommunication among caregivers
Helping Victims in Kansas City, MO & Beyond
Many methods exist for ensuring proper staff training. There is no reason why your loved one should not receive the very best of care in any nursing home environment.
Contact the knowledgeable attorneys at our Kansas City office today to schedule a free consultation: (816) 253-8606.