You may find it difficult to move a parent into a nursing home, but if you are unable to provide the care your mother or father needs, it may become necessary. When exploring potential nursing homes, you want to make sure you find one that has safe living quarters and amenities your parent are going to enjoy. However, one of the most important things to make sure a nursing home has is adequate, well-trained staff.
When a nursing home does not have enough professionals, or when they see high turnover within their workforce, the quality of care your parent receives is likely to suffer. With each nursing home you consider, think about taking the following steps.
Talk to employees
Ask the employees at each nursing home you consider whether they like their jobs, how long they have worked there and what the staff-to-resident ratio is. Ask, too, if the staff-to-resident ratio is different on weekends than it is during the week. It is common for nursing homes to run on “skeleton crews” during the weekends. If you are unable to find staff members to ask these questions, consider this a red flag.
Talk to residents
You may not get the full story when talking to nursing home employees, and particularly if you are talking to someone trying to convince you to move your parent there. Thus, it may benefit you to also talk to residents. Ask them if they are happy with their decision to live there and if they feel they receive quality care.
When nursing homes lack adequate staff, your loved one may not receive the mobility or other help he or she needs, which raises injury risks. For this reason, ensuring a prospective nursing home has adequate, highly trained staff is essential.