Re: decubitus ulcers

From: Jeannie H Wilson (jeanniehwilson_at_aol.comnonospam)
Date: 09/20/04 

Date: 20 Sep 2004 13:22:23 GMT

>good. They may nod and agree, then change
>nothing. Seems often it takes something like 20/20 or Dateline or somebody
>with
>hidden cameras to make them listen.
>

There were a few nursing home/rehab facilities around here and nothing worked
until all the families started calling DHEC (not sure if it is called the same
thing in every state -Department of Health and Environmental Control). They
didn't want to pay for all the full-time RNs they needed, so they had LPNs
being charge nurse and then had one RN just sign off on all the charts before
the end of the shift, they had 4-5x the amount of patients required by DHEC,
they had CNAs doing LPN jobs, LPNs doing RN jobs, etc. They are only allowed to
use certain types of restraints but they would always '"find" the other types
and use them on the patients. People were ignored. People were neglected.
It was terrible. My friend worked there and would come home in tears all the
time. It took a bit of time and a lot of action but people finally started
getting the word to DHEC, who ended up investigating and then about 6 months
later, the place was closed. Of course, that left people needing the
facilities with no place to go, but I am sure they were much better off.