A new study by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability examines the use of temporary nursing staff by nursing home and assisted care facilities. The use of temporary staffing agencies has sharply increased over the last few years due to worsening staffing shortages resulting from the effects of the pandemic. In 2019, nursing home facilities reported spending about $9.8 million for healthcare staffing agencies. This rose to $16.6 million in 2020 and $52.5 million in 2021. So far, during the first half of 2022, nursing home facilities have already spent $52.2 million on temporary staff.
Fewer than half of all nursing home residents in the United States have received the latest coronavirus vaccine booster shot — and rates among nursing home staff are even worse — raising concerns that vulnerable elderly people face a spike in preventable COVID-19 deaths this winter.
It “takes a village” to provide high quality care for residents and patients. One of those caregivers, Kayla Finzen, LPN, at Good Samaritan Society – Sioux Falls Village in South Dakota, is getting a well-deserved surprise for her efforts. “It took me about a week to realize what a top-notch nurse I had in the rehab facility when I was here,” former patient Linda Fansin says about Finzen during a special ceremony.
New York will soon begin enforcing its 2021 state law establishing staffing minimums at nursing homes, despite concerns the effort could turn the upstate hospital capacity crunch into a crisis. Nursing homes will face fines of up to $2,000 per day for failing to meet the new staffing levels and related financial standards. About 75% of the state’s roughly 600 nursing homes have been violating the standards as of earlier this year, industry officials said. In other words, hundreds of nursing homes either must hire more staff or reduce their number of residents to avoid fines in coming months. State health officials also can waive fines in specific communities based on a formula for declaring a local labor shortage.
Ashtabula County Medical Center Regional Home Health recently held a luncheon to honor caregivers for years of service and to recognize excellence in patient care. “Our caregivers are champions for the wonderful care they offer to our patients and their families and for their dedication to our organization,” said ACMC Regional Home Health Executive Director Sue Shadle, MSN, RN. Home health care proved to grow in demand and value as the COVID-19 pandemic continued in 2022, especially for those recovering from acute illness. Home health caregivers ensure patients get that care in the comfort of their own home and can support family members with the task of caring for a loved one at home.
Caregivers provide care to people who require assistance with daily tasks and activities on a continuing basis and this can be people of all ages and gender, from those who struggle with chronic diseases to physical and mental challenges. Caregiving is sometimes informal and unpaid—provided by family members—or formal and paid, offered in recipients’ homes and care institutions. Despite being the central pillar of long-term care, many caregivers—formal or informal, paid or unpaid—in New Brunswick complain of exhaustion. Too often, caregivers are both poorly appreciated for their services and are paid far too little.