Ahhh, A Critic!

Seems my rant on nursing homes got someone’s knickers in a bunch. Ahhh well, such is life. Actually, the poster had some pretty good points to make and offered some salient advice of his or her own…gender unknown because the person did not see fit to sign with a name. Should be easy to recognize though…look for a nondescript person with an enormous stick in their butt.

No apologies forthcoming, Anonymous. I didn’t expect everyone to be pleased. And really, the world would be pretty boring if we all agreed, wouldn’t it?

That said, everyone with elderly family members should read Anonymous’ take on my post. There’s some good stuff in there, if you can wade past the sanctimony.

And yes Anonymous, the title of the post was disparaging. It was intended to be. Neither was my opinion meant to be a definitive treatise on elderly care and the nursing home industry.

One last thing. While statistics may show that increasing staffing has not been shown to improve care practices, you quote no studies to back it up. Therefore I am forced to regard your statement as opinion and anecdote, and will thus counter with opinion and anecdote of my own:

For John Q. Nursing Home Owner (or non-profit agency operating a nursing home), do a salary survey of the nursing homes in your area. Find out how much the LPNs and aides are paid. Hire an extra aide for every shift. Pay your aides oh…say 20% more than your competitors, and pay the LPNs about 10% more.

Establish a comprehensive CQI and education program. Offer incentive pay for professional education. Weed out your deadwood through attrition or through CQI.

Within 2 years you will have the best nursing home in the area, and still have enough profit left over to get that swanky cabin cruiser you’d been pining for. I’d bet the farm on it.

Anyhoo, thank you for the criticism, Anonymous. All sarcasm aside, it was well heeded.

Until next time…

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