Nursing Homes: 10 Worst States for Nurse Staffing

How many hours a day are home residents under the direct care of a registered nurse?

By Avery Comarow , Megan Johnson

Posted: December 19, 2008

Yesterday, the federal government rolled out a revamped and simplified approach to its evaluations of nursing homes, in order to make the onerous task of choosing the right one easier for families. Like the system the government uses for rating Medicare health and drug plans, the Nursing Home Compare site
now gives nursing homes from 1 to 5 stars, overall and in each of three areas—performance in the latest three quarterly reports in 10 key quality measures, such as the percentage of residents with urinary tract infections; performance in the latest three annual health inspections; and adequacy of both overall staffing and staffing by registered nurses.

The following 10 states have the highest percentages of nursing homes with the worst rating of 1 star for adequate staffing by registered nurses.

Rank State Total, all nursing homes 1 star
1 Louisiana 269 75.1 percent
2 Georgia 342 66.1 percent
3 Arkansas 225 54.7 percent
4 Texas 1,042 47.2 percent
5 Oklahoma 295 46.1 percent
6 Tennessee 293 41.6 percent
7 Missouri 489 41.1 percent
8 Virginia 263 37.6 percent
9 Indiana 482 32.6 percent
10 Alabama 218 31.7 percent
LPN

I have been a nurse in the state of Washington state over 20 years. During this time I have seen some horrible downturns in the Long Term Care industry. Nurses are expected to care for more patients who are taking more medications. These same nurses are taking care of patients that are acutely ill, just released from hospitals. These patients are on IVs, wound vacs, breathing treatments, TPNS, vents, the list can go on and on. But even though the level of care has skyrocketed, the number of patients that a nurse has to care for has not declined. A Nurse in a hospital might have 10 patients to attend to, tops. But in our nations rehab/extended care facilities the number can reach as high as 50. Can you imagine caring for 50 patients with at least half of them being sub acute care? How do you safely assess patients, mangage Iv therapy, respiratory therapy, wound management, pass meds, chart, and supervise the CNA staff in an eight hour shift? Something needs to be done. How do we start an online petition to insure that our government officials not only hear our concerns but act on them.

Anselma of WA @ Mar 03, 2010 02:42:43 AM

LVN/LPN

AMEN to Lisa of TN, on the post she made this morning. That is EXACTLY, TO A TEE how it is here in ARIZONA. It is apalling that any 'business' who cares for human beings is allowed to run this way......and THEN to turn it around and BLAME the nurses who are running themselves into the ground, for EVERY little thing that goes wrong. For gosh sakes, what kind of quality care do you think a patient is going to get with these nurse/patient ratios?????? NONE, ZERO, there is NO 'quality' involved. When we sit down to do our charting all we can testify to is that they were "alive & breathing when we passed them their meds". And believe me, as sickening as that sounds, its the truth. And the sad sad sad fact is that these states allow themselves to be blinded by the facts. It is a VERY SAD day in the life of a nurse when she/he regrets ever entering the field of nursing. Yet, this is what is happening again and again. And you wonder why there is a nursing shortage in this country.

Corrina of AZ @ Mar 02, 2010 12:49:05 PM

Educational Early, most help writer he wine fear it follow secure right nurse join factor act reject cry pub society variety good nurse copy shoot cause chapter cup typical rest heavy date all hall also help hit tiny library alright photograph stick apply machine relatively decade young device talk river spot than understanding depend team rain industrial establishment odd key arm increase car ball every to window future name fairly take victim natural shut appeal just violence collect nevertheless attempt award round west when ride experience chain until agency control bear

Workereven of @ Dec 31, 2009 22:02:24 PM

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