Nursing homes are a place for the elderly to be nursed and taken care of. The elderly that live in these homes are too old to take care of themselves, mentally not well, or physically unwell. Residents of these homes are placed by district on where they previously lived or where their family has decided to place them. There are many issues in nursing homes across the country including: dehydration, sexualt assault, malnutrition, and overmedication . The first major issue in nursing homes around the country is residents dehydration. The facility operator and the staff should always have the resident’s best interest at heart. The resident should be their number one priority. Caring for an individual is the staff’s duty and job. Failing to ensure that the resident’s safety, nourishment, and hydration are obtained is the biggest concern as to why these nursing homes may not be functioning as best as possible. The reasoning behind providing a safe environment for these elderly people is that everyone deserves a good place to live and be taken care of. These residents pay a lot of money to live in these homes. These facilities are held liable for any endangerment towards these residents. Dehydration comes from the lack of total body fluid. Loss of body fluid can impair normal functions. Being dehydrated can cause dizziness, elevated heart rate, muscle cramps, and headaches. Providing these residents with adequate hydration is not only important but the nursing home’s job. Approximately 500 nursing home residents die each year due to dehydration problems. There are many ways to keep these residents healthy and happy. Having clean water for these residents is a must. A way to provide clean drinking water is to serve it in the cafeteria and everyone has to drink a glass with every meal. Having refillable water bottles for each patient with vibrant colors on the water bottles would be a fun way for the resident to be in charge of their water. Nursing home neglect and assault is another issue around the world that residents face each day. Physical and sexual assault in nursing homes is another big issue across the country in nursing homes. Women are more likely to be assaulted in nursing homes than men. Over the years it has been discovered that almost 80% of the abused are being abused by the caregiver who are there to take care of them not assault them. Some signs of sexual assault is bruising to the genital area or thighs, pelvic injuries, and bleeding from any area near the genitals. Mental health should always be watched and notified if the resident is seen having panic attacks, depression, social withdrawal, agitation, and signs of any stress disorder. Assaults like this should not be taken lightly. Law enforcement should be notified immediately when sexual assault takes place. To fight against sexual assault in nursing homes is to put up cameras in each hallway. This provides a safe way for the security to stay high and the residents safety monitored. Instead of rape whistles, there should be a button to call for help in the patients room. One button on the residents bed and one on the wall. Malnutrition is another growing issue in nursing homes across America. Elderly people need the proper vitamins and nutrients in their diet. It is critical that the residents of these nursing homes are given the correct amount of food and the proper food needed for survival. A diet is the management of food and drink consumption with the intent to maintain weight in this situation. Nursing homes do not take into consideration the needs of all residents. Being understaffed is a big problem on why residents are not getting their daily diet needs. Not being able to have the attention needed can cause major problems for the residents and their health. Nursing homes should have 2-3 residents per certified nursing assistant. With so many residents and constant need for help the turnover rate for certified nursing assistants is at 93%. With this high turnover rate, training deficiencies and practical errors are more and more common each year. The care of the residents should be most important to these facilities and it is not.  Symptoms of malnutrition in nursing homes can be oral. These oral symptoms can be canker sores or redness in the mouth of the resident. The body may physically be harmed by malnourishment. These symptoms may be fatigue, headaches, brittle bones, and flaccid muscles. Malnourishment can also affect the eyes of the resident. Not being fed properly can cause the eyes to become red and swollen. The red and swollen eyes can cause the resident to have blurred vision and could possibly deteriorate the resident’s vision in the long run. To prevent malnutrition in nursing homes there should be set diets that benefit everyone’s needs. This set diet will provide all of the nutrients and vitamins needed. Overmedication is a growing issue in nursing homes. Most people think of nursing homes as scary and this is why. The statistics behind the overmedicating is drastically sad. More than 300,000 residents receive antipsychotic drugs from these nursing homes. Almost half of those residents that receive antipsychotic drugs “lack medically accepted reasons for taking them.” 15,000 residents in nursing homes die each year due to the overmedication of unprescribed drugs. I know you’re thinking why would these poor elderly residents deserve to be given these drugs… they don’t! Some nursing homes do not have enough staff to take care of the residents so they overmedicate. In other cases the staff is exhausted and make mistakes when prescribing. On the other hand some nursing homes are overmedicating their residents on purpose with full intention to endanger the residents. Some residents may be aggressive, emotional, or will not cooperate demand most of the attention. These facilities would rather give the resident medication to deal with them instead of having a caregiver do what they are supposed to. A caregiver is there to give the resident attention and work with them individually when they act out. Chemical restraint is using drugs to keep residents sedated for long amounts of time. Symptoms of overmedication can be mood swings, oversleeping, confusion, unresponsiveness, and unexplained medical complications. To prevent overmedication in nursing homes, there should be at least two doctors at each home that write the prescription and only the doctor can write and fill the prescription. All tranquilizers, antipsychotics, and other drugs will be used only on high risk patients that have been approved medically to have them. In conclusion, these issues in nursing homes can be fixed with the right help. The proper care can go a long way. The correct staff training and nurse’s assistants must be trained longer and have multiple interviews.

https://coganpower.com/blog/category/medical-malpractice/

https://coganpower.com/blog/category/nursing-home-abuse/

https://coganpower.com/blog/category/personal-injury/

http://www.nursinghomeabuseguide.org/neglect/malnutrition-issues/ http://www.nursinghomeabuseguide.org/medication-errors/overmedication

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.