Nursing Home Abuse Cited in Federal Studies

Abuse of nursing home residents often goes unreported and may be a worsening problem as ill-equipped and overworked personnel vent their frustrations on patients, two draft government reports obtained Tuesday say.

Medical staffers, fellow patients, relatives and other visitors all contribute but aides and orderlies most often are the abusers, according to the reports from the inspector general’s office of the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Faced with heavier levels of care, such as residents with more debilitating diseases, frustrated staff take out their stress on the residents,” said one unidentified official interviewed for the reports.

The HHS reports, which are still in draft form and subject to revision, were based on a survey of 228 individuals who work in state and federal government nursing homes and advocacy groups in 35 states. No state-by-state breakdown was given.

“While there are no exact statistics on institutional abuse, any abuse is unacceptable,” the reports say.

Factors mentioned as contributing to abuse in nursing homes included understaffing, low wages, stressful working conditions, inadequate training, a high turnover rate, belligerence on the part of patients, a lack of empathy for the elderly and increasing numbers of severely ill people being placed in homes.

“Many respondents believe stress is caused by the difficulties of caring for impaired and dependent residents who require help in many of the activities of daily living,” one report said.

Seven types of mistreatment were identified: physical abuse, misuse of restraints, verbal or emotional abuse, physical neglect, medical neglect, verbal or emotional neglect and improper use of a resident’s personal property.

Of those surveyed, 95% said there were problems in all seven areas.