Impact of Unsafe Staffing
Consumer Voice has published a new report, The Impact of Understaffing on the Daily Lives of Nursing Home Residents. It explains how unsafe staffing directly impacts the lives of vulnerable adults in institutionalized settings.
Since the Biden Administration announced its intention to propose a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes, the focus has been on how a staffing standard would hurt nursing home owners and operators. This is not how we should perceive the issue.
Often lost in the discussion are residents, the people who suffer the consequences of understaffing. To bring the focus back on residents, Consumer Voice surveyed over 120 nursing home residents in the fall of 2023, asking for their perspectives on staffing and how they are affected by staffing levels daily.
The results were striking. The majority of residents who responded to the survey, 88%, stated their facilities lacked the staff necessary to meet the needs of the residents living in their facilities.