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The healthcare that patients with dementia receive in the last 180 days of life may look substantially different when patients are grouped by race or ethnicity.
Providers, patients and policymakers should better incorporate informal caregivers into skilled nursing facilities to enhance professional caregivers’ capabilities and efficiencies, according to University of Pennsylvania researchers.
Nursing home staffing during the pandemic
More than any other sector in health care, nursing homes have suffered during the pandemic. Nursing home residents and staff account for 34% of all COVID-19 deaths, though they make up less than 1% of the population. As a result of COVID-19-related concerns, the number of Americans living in nursing home has dropped by more than 10%. The result is an unprecedented financial crisis for the industry, with nursing homes closing their doors, some laying off their employees, and others being unable to safely staff their facilities.
Working conditions in nursing homes have also worsened during the pandemic first there was too little equipment to adequately protect staff, then too few tests to routinely test staff, residents, and visitors. Staff have been overburdened, overworked, and burned out during the pandemic. Numerous reports of staffing shortages have emerged in the press, and nursing homes report severe staff shortages in data they submit