Nursing Homes Do Not Always Hire Qualified Caregivers
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Bureau of Facility Standards is the state agency that conducts "surveys" of Idaho's nursing homes to make sure they are in compliance with all applicable federal and state regulations. It may surprise you that in the most recent survey available, for the period of January through June 2009, there were seven (7) citations issued for facilities who hired staff "guilty of abuse." Although this may not seem like a large number of citations, remember two things: (1) This survey was for a six month period; and (2) There were only 64 surveys conducted.
What drives facilities to make such an egregious and potentially harmful hiring decision? First and foremost, facilities often do not conduct appropriate and thorough background checks on applicants. Second, many facilities do not pay for quality staff and, thus, they "scrape the bottom of the barrel" of the employee pool. Third, some facilities simply need to "fill the void" when existing staff leave and may believe that some staff is better than no staff. Of course, none of these "excuses" for hiring staff "guilty of abuse" are "reasons" for substandard hiring practices.
Before choosing a nursing home, make sure you ask the appropriate administrator what type of background checks are conducted on potential employment candidates. Also ask if the facility has received any citations from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's Bureau of Facility Standards. If the facility has received any citations, ask to see them and what the facility did to correct its conduct.
