Often Preventable Nursing Home Harm

Various studies have shown that hundreds of thousands of injuries occur in nursing homes and assisted living facilities every year. These studies have also shown that a substantial portion of those injuries could have been prevented with just a bit more diligence from facility staff members and administrators.

With that in mind, the Joint Commission, which is an independent organization dedicated to improving treatment quality and patient safety across the entire healthcare industry, has established five National Patient Safety Goals for its Nursing Care Center Program in 2024, each of which is designed to address a different form of often preventable nursing home harm. If you or a loved one recently sustained a preventable injury from a nursing home facility’s failure to meet one of these goals, you have help available from seasoned legal counsel at Lowenthal & Abrams with pursuing civil compensation for losses stemming from that injury.

Identifying Residents Correctly and Consistently

The Joint Commission wants to improve patient identification accuracy in nursing homes by recommending that these facilities use at least two identifying details whenever providing a specific resident with medical treatment or other services. Notably, the Joint Commission explicitly does not recommend using a resident’s physical location or room number within a facility as an identifying detail.

Preventing Infections

To reduce the risk of preventable infections in nursing homes, the Joint Commission recommends that all employees of nursing homes and assisted living facilities strictly follow current hand hygiene guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization and that facility administrators take steps to ensure compliance with those guidelines.

Preventing Bedsore Development

Pressure ulcers are a serious problem in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities caring for immobile patients and residents. With that in mind, the Joint Commission has established a lengthy list of goals for nursing home administrators to reduce the risk of bedsore development by identifying and treating bedsores more quickly, checking in on residents regularly, and educating staff members about bedsore prevention measures.

Minimizing Accidental Falls

Falls are the single most common cause of preventable nursing home harm, especially among patients who are confined to a bed or have significant mobility issues. The Joint Commission’s goal of limiting the number of these accidents that occur in nursing homes each year centers around nursing home staff members proactively identifying and helping residents with especially high fall risks, including residents who do not have physical mobility issues but are taking medications that impact their balance and awareness.

Using Medications Safely and Appropriately

Finally, the Joint Commission has set a goal of ensuring patient safety in nursing homes while administering medication, with a particular focus on the safe use of blood-thinning medicines, consistently recording and communicating information about what medications each patient is taking, and informing patients about the effects and possible risks of their prescribed medications.

A Qualified Attorney Can Help You File Suit Over Preventable Nursing Home Harm Today

Compliance with the patient safety goals set by the Joint Commission will hopefully help reduce the total amount of often preventable nursing home harm that impacts residents of these facilities nationwide. Even if it does, there will unfortunately still be instances where neglect or abuse by nursing home staff members leads to a resident sustaining a serious injury or illness by no fault of your own.

In those kinds of scenarios, guidance from a knowledgeable lawyer will be vital to protecting your family’s interests in both the short term and the long term. Call today to learn more about your legal options during a consultation meeting.