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Dec 17, 2022

by  Dalli & Marino

How to Know If Nursing Home Staff Are Undertrained to Care For My Family Member

Home » Blog » How to Know If Nursing Home Staff Are Undertrained to Care For My Family Member

The nursing home industry has recently been a target for criticism, and with good reason. The standard of care in nursing homes has declined significantly over the past decade, meaning that your loved one may not be getting the care they need and deserve. This is partially due to many nursing homes undertraining their employees, which can quickly lead to negligence and abuse. 

Fortunately, not all nursing homes are bad places. Many offer excellent care and services to residents who need them most, which is why so many older adults are willing to pay out-of-pocket in order to reside there instead of remaining at home or moving into assisted living. But how can you know whether your loved one will receive safe and quality care if they move into a nursing home? The lawyers at Dalli & Marino, LLP can help you figure out if your loved one is being abused. We will fight to make sure you get the compensation you’re owed. 

Undertrained Staff and Short Staffing

Undertrained staff can be a problem in any type of facility, but it is especially an issue in nursing homes. Undertraining is when staff is hired and then facilities put them to work without providing proper care or training. This can also quickly lead to short staffing, as nursing homes are often stressful places to be employed. If staff aren’t adequately trained, this stress rises. This can result in inadequate care for residents.

When you visit your loved one in their nursing home, do you interact with staff members? Do they promptly arrive in your loved one’s room when you call them? What kind of communication do you get from them? If you notice that they’re frequently short staffed, this can be a sign that the staff they do have are undertrained because the facility is in desperate need for workers.

Effects of Hiring Undertrained Staff

Hiring undertrained staff can have many negative effects in a nursing home setting. For example, bedsores are a common issue among nursing home residents, and undertrained staff may not know how to properly care for them. This can cause residents to suffer and not receive the care they are owed.

Medication errors are also more likely to occur when staff are not properly trained. This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that certain patients may be neglected if staff members are not properly trained to care for them. If you think your loved one is not being adequately cared for, or is being cared for by undertrained staff, the nursing home should be held liable.  

Lack of Supervision

The lack of supervision or training of staff members at nursing homes can lead to negligence and substandard care for their residents. For example, if staff members are not properly trained in how to care for residents with dementia, they may not be able to provide the level of care that these residents need. Patients with more needs than others are often the ones that unfortunately don’t get all the care they need, and they may be unable to speak up against it due to either mental or behavioral difficulties. 

Additionally, if staff members are not properly supervised, they may make errors when providing medication or performing other tasks that could put residents at risk for harm.

Contact a Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer at Dalli & Marino, LLP

When looking for a nursing home for your loved one, you want to be able to trust that the staff at the facility is well-trained and taking care of them in the way that they need. If you notice understaffing or undertrained staff members, this could be an indicator that your loved one is receiving substandard care at their nursing home. 

If you suspect that your loved one is being neglected by the staff at their nursing home, it is best to contact one of our lawyers at Dalli & Marino, LLP as soon as possible. Our skilled and Spanish-speaking nursing home abuse attorneys may be able to help your family understand what type of information you need in order to file a lawsuit against the facility. Contact us online or call us at 888-465-8790 today.