The Nursing Home Issue.

There is a disturbing video making the rounds of the Internet and news. It shows  hidden camera footage from a nursing home.

In the video a woman with advanced dementia is subjected to abuse by a staff member, she has a facecloth with her own feces on it shoved in her face and she is roughly handled during a bed bath. In other scenes two employees nuzzle each other suggestively while in this woman's room with her in the bed.
In yet a third scene another resident wanders past a barrier and into her room and sorts through her belongings.

Ok, so I have a 100 year old grandmother. I have been a nurse for 10 years. Naturally my knee jerk response was to lose my nut.

But then I got to thinking. I'm a thinker, Internet. I think alot. Sometimes when I ought to be sleeping.

When I set aside my outrage at the treatment this woman endured and I view the events through a clinical lens, I see different things.

I see process failure, for one thing. Why was this careworker left alone to do the personal care on an elderly woman with dementia? This almost never goes easily. Its a two person job. Done properly its one person doing the care and the other person running distraction. This is not to excuse the care worker's behaviour. This is to point out places where changes can and should be made.

Work with dementia and some behaviourally challenged patients should be done in pairs. It's safer for the health worker and safer for the client.
This may translate to an increased staffing cost, but I think its worth it.

The romantic couple is another situation all together. There is never a place for this behaviour in  a work setting. Let alone in  patient's room with them present.
This disturbs me on many levels. Certainly the lack of professionalism is a problem but I have to wonder if this is an isolated incident. It look pretty familiar to me.
I worry that this reflects badly on male health care workers in particular. I have to say that male nurses and PSW's endure their share of prejudice. I hope that people see this for what it is....two individuals acting poorly.

The wandering patient also looks like  process failure to me. Now, it's difficult to judge without knowing the wandering patient's history but again this behaviour doesn't look hesitant to me. It looks practised. Clearly the yellow no wander barrier is not working. Which would indicate a need for a different intervention.


http://www.chextv.com/News/LN/13-05-16/Hidden_Camera_Reveals_Shocking_Abuse_at_Long_Term_Care_Home.aspx

In heath care, especially when working with vulnerable patients we must be ever mindfull of our actions. This video casts us all in a potentially poor light. I, for one resent the hell out of these workers.

There are thousands of heath care staff in this province working hard on a daily basis to be worthy of the trust the public puts in us when they leave thier loved ones in our hands. That work has been diminished by the behaviour of these three people.

We need to look at how we are delivering our care both personally and systemically. We have to be worthy of the public's trust.