Kara DavidsonSafety is an essential consideration for older people. Many seniors are prone to injuries due to unsafe living environments.
Hallways and corridors in aged care facilities should be more noticed regarding cleaning and maintenance. This can lead to trip, slip or fall accidents.
Successful approaches to intervention in resident abuse incidents include nurse-social work collaborative teams and consistent assignment of residents. Safety should be a priority for all employees.
Safety First
Nursing home residents’ needs can be viewed within the framework of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Safe and secure living environments that offer elderly care Missouri are at the top of this hierarchy.
One of nursing homes’ most critical safety-related challenges is preventing abuse. Abuse is often unnoticed and attributed to other causes. Abuse is also difficult to investigate because staff members sometimes struggle to believe that abuse has occurred and are often hesitant to report it, fearing they will not be believed. For this reason it is important to always be honest with the people that work at a nursing home. Regularly visiting the elderly members of your family can help to prevent abuse, as the abuser will likely feel that they are being closely watched and it can build rapport with staff who wish to help you. If even when the problem has been discussed you aren’t getting further, talking to an experienced lawyer can help you to receive maximum compensation for the abuse and treatment received, as well as help you to explore options to prevent the abuse from happening again.
Remember that a safe and secure environment includes removing obstacles that could cause falls or injury, providing plenty of light, installing lever door handles, and arranging for delivery services, such as groceries and hairdressers, to make regular visits.
Video Surveillance
Video surveillance can provide peace of mind to family members far away and also serve as a safeguard against theft by staff. By providing concrete evidence, such incidents can be punished – whether that is through rebuke, termination or prosecution.
Eldercare personnel must be informed clearly about the function of surveillance cameras before they are introduced. Insufficient knowledge can cause misunderstandings and lead to distrust. It is also important for them to know where the cameras can’t reach – for example, the bathroom. They should also be told how long they may watch their colleague’s video, and a logbook should be kept. Having all these predefined rules in place can help to avoid ethical problems, such as privacy invasion and misuse.
Emergency Call Systems
Assisted living communities, medical office buildings and senior apartments should all be equipped with emergency call systems. These systems include pull cords or push buttons that connect occupants to on-site nurses and, if necessary, local emergency services.
These systems can also monitor occupants’ movement throughout the facility using motion sensors. This can help keep vulnerable residents in their rooms and out of areas they should not be in.
Specialized medical alert systems can also be linked to smart devices for users at risk of wandering from their room or home, such as those with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
These specialized systems will notify caregivers if they are activated and let them know where the user is in the building and other critical information. They can be configured to send alarms to on-site staff digital receivers, subscription pagers, and two-way radios. They can even notify family members. With the right nurse call system and bespoke caregiver scheduling software, you can reduce response times, improve patient outcomes, boost staff efficiency, and ensure that your loved one is receiving personalized care.
Access Control
With a variety of visitors and healthcare workers in the building each day, it is critical that facilities be able to protect their patients, residents and staff from intrusions and access to confidential information. Access control systems can ensure that only authorized personnel can enter certain areas, days and timing that can help maintain strict controls over who can enter and exit the building.
Access control can ensure that only those who are allowed in can enter by requiring credential technology such as cards, key fobs, PIN codes or mobile credentials to get into buildings and rooms. These systems can also track who enters where and when, providing important audit trails of facility protocols and standards adherence.
In addition, limiting the number of entry points to memory care wings helps keep patients safe from wandering out into a hallway where they could be injured or exposed to viruses. This is especially important when a patient has dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, which can cause them to become confused and leave the wing unaccompanied by staff or family members.
