What is not lost on nursing home professionals is that although COVID-19 is devastating to patients , families , and staff physically and mentally , they have the daily challenges of providing appropriate medical therapies and interventions directed by medical directors .” communal activities . It made no recommendation to do more rigorous testing for the virus .
• As previously mentioned , nursing homes had received over $ 21 billion in federal relief funds , but only $ 2.5 billion specified for infection control ; the rest came with almost no requirements for spending the funds .
Healthcare bureaucracy
• Agencies , owners , governments all pointed to others to take charge , reminiscent of the proverbial “ circular firing squad .”
• CMS suspended routine state inspections . Some states directed that state inspections be not only stopped but required that inspectors not visit the facilities .
• Still , nursing homes are very leery of accepting outside organizations ’ assistance , fearing violation of non-disclosure agreements and fines levied .
With the recent change of administrations in Washington , D . C ., some people are hoping ( depending upon one ’ s political leanings ) that policies that positively affected Nursing homes are retained and policies that hurt or hindered nursing homes removed .
• With the new presidential administration comes an influx of life-long bureaucrats that have served in previous administrations that failed to improve the lot of nursing homes . What was it that Einstein said was the definition of insanity ?
• There is a difference between policies and politics , but elected officials and career bureaucrats have yet to learn the differences .
The nursing home industry
• Many facilities were understaffed and underfunded before the pandemic .
• The for-profit structure appears to have reduced intervention quality at many homes .
• Facilities that had received lower quality ratings from regulators before the pandemic were more likely to suffer outbreaks .
• The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living ( AHCA / NCAL ) is the largest in the United States , representing long term and post-acute care providers , with more than 14,000 member facilities .
As is customary , the blame game continues to be ongoing and well-funded . AHCA / NCAL are spending $ 15 million on a media campaign to change nursing homes ’ public perception . They are also pushing states and the federal government to enact immunity from legal liability during the pandemic . Thus far , 20 states have provided such immunity . Where did the $ 15 million originate ?
What exactly happens in nursing homes ? The common misconception , or perhaps the word perception , is more appropriate , and funding has bought into this misconception that nursing homes are places older people go to live until they die . This misconception is so far from the truth , yet it is embraced by too many people , particularly those that have never personally visited a nursing home but control the purse strings . The truth is that nursing homes also provide specialized treatment and care as well as therapies for everything from Alzheimer ’ s and dementia treatment , to orthopedic rehabilitation , pain therapy , pulmonary disease , stroke recovery , physical therapy , occupational therapy , speech therapy and respiratory therapy .
What is not lost on nursing home professionals is that although COVID-19 is devastating to patients , families , and staff physically and mentally , they have the daily challenges of providing appropriate medical therapies and interventions directed by medical directors . The reality of multiple drug-resistant organisms ( MDROs ) is not going away . The fact is that where once an MDRO was a singular event in a patient , not these professionals must be prepared to pivot to SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in everyone and COVID-19 interventions when necessary .
They are doing these interventions with limited funds , reduced staffing , more surveillance from government , family , and multiple press outlets that are more interested in following their mandate of finding stories that fulfill their unspoken assignment of “ if it bleeds , it leads .” They are interested in a story , not the people suffering both short-term and long-term . These bring us to a nexus of professionalism , money , and a shortage of training , equipment , and supplies .
www . healthcarehygienemagazine . com • february 2021
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