As a certified nursing assistant at an Edmonds long-term care facility where staffing levels have fallen short for as long as I can remember, I support the Quality Care Act, legislation that would require nursing homes to provide enough caregivers to take care of our most vulnerable citizens.
Many people are shocked when they hear that there are no regulations at all in Washington governing how many people a nursing home worker can be assigned to care for. Our residents are elderly, disabled and often have mental or memory problems. Many require multiple staff to get them in and out of bed. Not surprisingly, lower resident-to-staff ratios are directly linked to lower resident mortality rates, lower hospitalization rates and improved mental and physical condition.
My co-workers and I take pride in giving vulnerable people quality care. But all too often, our employer does not, cutting staffing levels so ruthlessly that our residents suffer.
It’s common for an aide on day shift to be responsible for 15 or more residents at a time. We all know that it is simply impossible to provide quality care, including getting residents up, changing them, feeding them, grooming them and helping them with safety and basic hygiene, with so few staff on duty.
Our vulnerable residents get bed sores, sit around in wet or soiled garments and sustain sometimes life-threatening falls because of short-staffing.
The worst staffing I have ever seen there was about two years ago, when only two aides were scheduled to take care of 62 residents. That is a seriously dangerous staffing level. Many of us had to lift residents who ordinarily required two staffers to lift them. On this particular day, I sustained a shoulder injury trying to lift a patient.
The Quality Care Act, HB 1784, would help improve our working conditions while improving the lives of some of Washington’s most vulnerable residents by making three critical changes to state law governing conditions at Washington State nursing homes.
First, it would set mandatory minimum staffing levels for all nursing-homes: Seven residents per nursing assistant during the day, nine during evening hours, and 16 per aide overnight.
Second, it would ensure sure that a registered nurse is on staff at all nursing homes, 24 hours a day; currently, Washington requires only that one RN be on site for 16 hours a day, leaving facilities without any licensed medical staff for up to eight hours daily.
Finally, it would promote quality care by basing the rates paid to nursing homes on how well they meet quality standards, including resident and family satisfaction, worker injuries and turnover rates, and resident health.
We are the people who are there every day, making sure that your parents and grandparents are taken care of. We stay in this job because we want to make a difference in people’s lives. But we need adequate staffing to help ensure that your loved ones are healthy, safe, and happy in our facilities. That’s a goal we share with families and residents, and one that minimum staffing levels would do much to accomplish.
Sylvia Brown is a certified nursing assistant at a long-term care facility in Edmonds. She lives in Everett.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
