California Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

The Increasing Difficulty of Treating Assisted Living Facility Residents with Overlapping Diseases

August 6, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

According to a recent government study reported in The New York Times, 82% of residents who live in assisted living facilities suffer from at least one of the three most common chronic conditions: Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure and heart disease. The alarming way in which these ailments overlap has triggered an important new field of study.
Over 733,000 people reside in American assisted living facilities. These facilities provide care for people who need help performing their daily activities, such as dressing, but do not require the more intensive services of a nursing home.
Not only did the study find that more than half the residents are ages 85 and older, researchers were shocked that so many were in need of medical care. In a data brief, the researchers reported, “These findings suggest a vulnerable population with a high burden of functional and cognitive impairment.”
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Nursing Homes are Failing to Properly Manage Patients’ Blood Thinner Medications

August 4, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

It has recently been discovered that patients are being hospitalized and dying due to nursing homes’ failure to properly manage the blood thinner Coumadin. The federal government is now instructing health inspectors across America to be vigilant in spotting these errors by nursing homes.
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Drinking Coffee in Moderation Enhances Memory

August 3, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

Researchers of a recent study reported in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease examined over 1,400 Italian seniors from ages 65 to 84 and found interesting associations between coffee consumption and risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). They found that people who consistently drank one to two cups of coffee per day had lower rates of MCI than those who rarely or never drank coffee. However, those who habitually drank over two cups per day did not show similar benefits.
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More Nursing Homes are Performing Basic Procedures Normally Done in the Hospital

July 27, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

According to a recent news article from The New York Times, nursing homes are beginning to take the hospital’s place when it comes to basic health care, preventing unnecessary hospitalizations for older adult residents. Not only does this shift in focus allow residents who do not do well in hospital settings to remain in the comfort of their nursing home, it can also prevent unnecessary hazards that could seriously diminish a patient’s quality of life, such as falls, stubborn infections, the development of delirium from unfamiliar environments and pharmaceuticals, and conditional deterioration due to inactivity. Residents can also avoid experiencing functional loss, including cognitive ability that may never be recovered, especially if the resident is already developing dementia.

Pet Therapy as an Approach to Improve Nursing Home Residents’ Quality of Life

July 23, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

A nursing home in St. Paul, Minnesota is giving its residents something to smile about every day—an employee’s teacup poodle. Nala, who has become the nursing home’s perky mascot, lovingly interacts with the residents on a daily basis, riding the nursing home’s elevator and leaping onto wheelchairs and beds to greet patients. Although Nala is not formally trained as a therapy dog, she has never failed to bring joy and comfort to the older adult residents at the Lyngblomsten care home.

Identifying Modifiable Markers of Impaired Decision Making Can Improve Nursing Home Residents’ Ability to Make Decisions Independently

July 21, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

On a daily basis, nursing home residents have opportunities to make many decisions that affect their lives. These decisions range from important medical considerations to more routine decisions, such as choices regarding social activities and composition of meals. Even if a resident’s cognitive condition hinders decision-making ability in one area, that resident might have the ability to make other types of decisions. Residents who actively participate in decision making can strengthen their sense of well-being and improve their quality of life. Factors that are known to indicate poorer decision-making ability include cognitive impairment (particularly dementia) and older age. By contrast, depression does not diminish a nursing home resident’s ability to make decisions.

Nursing Home Staff Should Strive to Prevent or Eliminate Urinary Incontinence in their Residents

July 21, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

Urinary incontinence (UI) is very common among older adult women. UI is a debilitating problem—it not only diminishes quality of life, but also decreases one’s ability to carry out daily tasks. UI increases with age and affects women throughout their lives physically, socially, and psychologically. UI affects activities of daily living (ADLs) that include sleep, genital hygiene, clothing options, sexual function, liquid intake, social life, and movement rhythm.
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Beware of Nursing Home Facilities that Advertize False Claims Regarding their Care

July 17, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

60% of Massachusetts nursing homes have been found to advertise misleading statements about their services. A review by the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire has reported that these nursing homes have claimed that they can meet the care needs of dementia patients when, in fact, this cannot be further from the truth. Inspections proved that more than 100 of these facilities did not meet state requirements.

Long-Term Care Facilities Should Incorporate a Protein-Rich Diet and Physical Activity For Frail Residents

July 16, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

It is well known that physical frailty is highly prevalent among older adults. A recent study has shown that people with early frailty and decrease in muscle mass can enhance both muscle mass and chair-stand time over a duration of 13 weeks. Improvements in handgrip strength and gait speed were also shown. These findings support the research reports that nutritional support, either by itself, or in combination with exercise, can greatly influence the improvement of muscle function in frail older adults.

Nursing Homes Should Encourage Their Residents to Stay Active

July 14, 2015 | by Yeroushalmi Law

It is well-known that living an active lifestyle is beneficial to one’s overall health and well being. Unfortunately, inactivity among nursing home residents is prevalent and has shown to be especially deleterious for frail individuals. A risk factor for sedentary behavior in nursing home residents is a decline in physical fitness, which includes muscle strength, balance, and physical performance. Deterioration of physical fitness negatively effects the care dependency of older adults, which influences the workload of nursing staff. Research has shown that even in healthy older adults, 10 days of bed rest leads to an extreme decline on muscle function and aerobic capacity, and results in an overall reduction of physical activity. Long-term care facilities should implement exercise interventions that have shown to be successful in producing positive results. Physical activity does not need to be vigorous in order to produce beneficial results. Participation in daily activities already helps to maintain physical functioning and influences higher quality of life.