Weekly Digest: Problems Encountered in Nursing Homes

As mentioned in a survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs this year, a majority of Americans prefer to receive long term care in the comfort of their homes. But what about those in nursing homes, are they facing more problems? Let’s learn more out about the recent problems residents in these facilities experience.

Nursing Homes Phasing out Alarms to Reduce Falls

Mo4ch News correspondent, Ali Wael, reported about the shift of nursing homes to be more active in monitoring residents, by slowly phasing out fall-alarm systems. As mentioned in the report, alarm systems were observed to do little to nothing to reduce falls, and that facilities without alarm systems tend to be calmer and more pleasant environments.

Don’t Ignore This One Thing When Choosing A Nursing Home

Liivi Hess of The Alternative Daily highlighted the importance of checking the food served in nursing homes. Liivi wrote that most nursing homes, unfortunately, serve unhealthy food. From “fake cream” to small portions of food, people who plan to stay in nursing homes need to think twice and do the necessary checks before admitting in one.

Across the US, nursing homes force an unnecessary surgery

David S. Seres, M.D., wrote about the potentially unethical practice of some nursing homes to administer surgery to place a nasal feeding tube. According to the The Hill article, this type of surgical procedure is not only unnecessary but may prove to be unsafe as well.

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Can Dog Walking Be Good For Your Health?

One of Sunrise Senior Living’s latest blog entries is about the many benefits that walking a dog can have for the elderly.  The post cited several studies on not why keeping fit with a dog can help improve one’s physical health, but keep a positive mental wellbeing as well.

Study: Texas Nursing Homes Overuse Antipsychotic Drugs

The El Paso Herald Post recently wrote about overmedication in Texan nursing homes. With the practice of physical restraint slowly being phased out, nursing homes have started to rely on antipsychotics for the elderly. The problem about this, according to the article, is that there are instances that administration of the drugs are undiagnosed, which may lead to unwarranted side-effects.