Sanitation Issues Pose A Serious Threat To Nursing Home Residents
Category: Medical Malpractice
Author: Georgina Tyburski
Posted: Friday - January 25, 2019
Every year, millions of Americans trust nursing homes to provide a high level of care and clean facilities for their elderly loved ones. This is critical for this vulnerable population, as older adults are especially susceptible to catching an infection and getting sick. An illness on top of any pre-existing medical condition can quickly spiral out of control, and is a serious threat to any nursing home resident.
Unfortunately, not all nursing home facilities live up to this expectation, and improper sanitation and dirty facilities are the most common causes behind the lawsuits that are constantly filed against nursing homes in the U. S. For this post, we’re looking at the many sources of sanitation risks that your elderly loved ones could be exposed to, especially at the hands of overworked, understaffed, or undertrained caregivers.
Sources of Sanitation Risks in Nursing Home Facilities
In addition to neglecting the personal hygiene and cleanliness needs of individual residents, nursing home staff can also fail to keep the physical facilities clean. Showers, toilets, sinks, bathroom floors, and other parts of the bathroom are breeding grounds for dangerous bacteria, and they need to be aggressively cleaned on a regular basis.
One other bacteria and infection hot zone is the kitchen itself. Staff need to take all the precautions that are needed in any commercial kitchen, especially when considering the weakened or compromised immune system of the residents. In addition to proper food prep and handling practices, staff need to meticulously and consistently clean all surfaces. This also applies to any dining areas as well, especially those where traffic is heavy.
Finally, staff members themselves can also be a major risk if they fail to maintain proper personal hygiene and sanitation habits. As they interact with many residents and work all around the facilities, they need to practice key habits such as washing hands regularly, wearing gloves when necessary, and wearing clean, sanitized clothing in order to avoid carrying germs and other hazards from room to room.
Legal Nurse Consultants Use Their Expertise to Protect Nursing Home Residents
When lawsuits are filed against nursing homes for lack of hygiene and sanitation, professionals such as attorneys and legal nurse consultants work together to gather the facts at hand and ensure that nursing home facilities are held accountable for neglectful and dangerous practices.
Legal nurse consultants play a vital role by lending their knowledge and experience as qualified medical experts. They work hand in hand with attorneys and victims as they conduct thorough medical investigations, identify concrete links between nursing home conditions and illness or other complications, and prepare well-researched reports that serve as valuable evidence in court. They can also provide expert testimony and help prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a nursing home has failed to uphold an adequate level of hygiene and sanitation.
If you’d like more information about nursing home infections, substandard levels of sanitation in nursing homes, or if you want to learn more about the role that legal nurse consultants play in regards to personal injury lawsuits, we invite you to contact us at Legal Nurse Consultants USA at your earliest convenience. You can reach our offices by calling us at 877.211.7562.
