Southern California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
Any family assessing nursing homes in San Bernardino County for an elderly loved one should be thinking about safety ratings and histories of abuse or safety violations at the facility. These numbers certainly do not tell the entire story and any nursing home — even one with a spotless record — can be a place where elder abuse occurs, or nursing home negligence results in an accidental injury or death. However, ratings and reports can provide a portion of information that should be taken seriously. At the same time, a study reported in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News suggests that there may be another factor to consider: whether the nursing home is unionized.
Nursing home employees who are unionized are more likely to report workplace injuries, according to the report, and that information is important for a key reason: workplace injuries often occur in healthcare facilities due to employee burnout. Accordingly, a lower rate of workplace injuries could suggest a lower risk of negligence-related injuries among elderly residents. Our San Bernardino County nursing home neglect lawyers can tell you more.
Unionization, Improved Staffing, and Less Burnout
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires nursing homes and assisted living facilities, along with all other workplaces, to properly report illnesses and injuries among employees. However, data from a new study discussed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News report suggests that only about 40 percent of nursing homes actually comply with this requirement. What that also means is that only about 40 percent of nursing homes are being honest about workplace injuries due to understaffing and burnout.
That new research, which was published in the journal Health Affairs, indicates that unionized employees are much more likely to work in nursing homes where injuries and illnesses among staff are properly reported. Those facilities, too, tend to have lower rates of workplace injuries due to fatigue, burnout, and understaffing, which results in employees taking on more tasks than they can handle safely. In turn, then, the research implies that nursing homes where employees are unionized are also less likely to have high rates of resident injuries due to staff burnout and are more likely to have appropriate levels of staff to care for residents.
Better Staffing Often Means Fewer Injuries Due to Negligence
When nursing homes are understaffed, and employees are experiencing burnout, there is a much higher possibility of elderly resident injuries due to negligence. The study in Health Affairs implies that, in addition to being better places to work for employees, nursing homes with unionized employees may also be safer for residents due to proper staffing and accurate reporting when injuries and illnesses do occur among the workforce.
Data from the National Library of Medicine suggests there is a connection between nursing home employee burnout and fatigue, employee workplace injuries, and resident injuries due to neglect. When nursing home employees are able to manage stress and work hours, there are fewer injuries on the job and fewer resident injuries arising out of negligence or passive neglect. Accordingly, in addition to viewing safety records, families might also look to see whether a nursing home has unionized employees and use that as one factor among many in making a decision about the best nursing home for an elderly loved one.
Contact a San Bernardino County Nursing Home Neglect Attorney
For any concerns about nursing home negligence or injuries arising out of abuse or neglect at a skilled nursing facility, it is important to seek legal advice. One of the experienced San Bernardino County nursing home abuse and neglect attorneys can speak with you today to learn more about the details of your case and to discuss options for holding your elderly loved one’s nursing home accountable for harm. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information.
See Related Blog Posts:
When Nursing Home Abuse Does Not Have Physical Signs
Los Angeles County Nursing Home Accountable for Choking Deaths
