Five Star Ranking system for Nursing Homes!

Five-star ranking system for nursing homes.


1. Source Citation “Five-star ranking system for nursing homes” Nursing Older People 20.9 (2008): 6. Academic OneFile, Web. 18 Feb. 2010.
2. Source Description The article is based on a report that was revealed last September 30th 2008, it was stated there that ninety-four (94%) percent of the Nursing homes in the U.S were cited for health and safety violations due to problems ranging from infected bed sores, medication and neglect or abuse. The primary reason was because of the inability to maintain an adequate ratio of trained staff to deal with patients. Starting on December 2008 the government will be starting a five star ranking for every nursing home to be inspected.
3. Analysis & Reflection I was surprised to find out that 94% percent of the Nursing homes here were cited for reasons like neglect and abuse according to the text “More than 1.5 million people live in the nations 15,000 nursing homes”. Even though I work at a nursing home, I’m still against the idea or thought of bringing in my parents sooner in the future. Facts or reports like these bother me because they do really happen and in a huge percentage. Most families are unaware of how their parents or elder relatives are being treated. “How sure are we?” That’s always a question I’m wondering if people who bring a relative to a nursing home ask themselves and think about. This is probably the reason why the state comes to visit our facility often, its because of the issue on the September 30th report, which for me is good because it might be a way to reduce more abuse and neglect that are happening in many nursing homes.
4. By reading this article, I became much aware of the abuse and neglect happening in many of the nursing homes here in the U.S. I’m just hoping that the percentage of the nursing home being cited for this will go down with the governments idea to have a yearly inspection. I would like to know if this five-star ranking plan worked and reduced the percentage of neglect and abuse.