Something has been
bugging professionals, family members and communities about nursing homes, and
their concerns are completely warranted.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, nursing-home
residents are especially susceptible to drug-resistant infections because of
their age, weak immune systems and many preexisting illnesses.
Super-susceptible to Superbugs
The article states
that between 11% to 59% of these residents have been colonized with various
types of superbugs which makes them that much more vulnerable to developing a full-on
infection. In the same article, Dr. Theresa Madaline, a clinical director of
Infectious Disease Services at Montefiore Health System in Bronx, NY states,
“if you are colonized, the likelihood you will get a drug-resistant infection
will be much higher” to treat.
An article from
Reuters.com describes an unfortunate example of a nursing home outbreak:
beginning in January of 2014 a nursing home in New Mexico named Casa Maria was
plagued with an outbreak of c.difficile, an infection that is an inflammation
of the colon and is characterized by recurrent diarrhea and abdominal
cramping. The nursing home’s staff
downplayed the seriousness of the situation and by June of that year, fifteen
residents had been infected and eight had died.
Even more alarmingly, the public had never been informed of the outbreak
until a much later date.
Alarmingly, there
are few measures in place which require nursing homes to report their rates of
infection. According to the same Wall
Street Journal article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created
an option that allowed nursing homes to report and monitor cases of superbugs;
however, out of around 15,700 nursing homes in the United States, less than 2%
had volunteered to join the network by the end of 2015. Currently, only roughly 16% of the nursing
homes have signed up according to an analysis by Columbia Nursing School.
Understaffing in
Nursing Homes a Big Problem
The analysis paper
from the Columbia Nursing School explains that controlling infections in
nursing homes is difficult because of understaffing, less resources, inadequate
training and poor surveillance. However,
the awareness of these deficiencies should only serve as a reason for nursing
homes to be required to revamp their current methods and raise their standards.
A spotlight is
certainly on nursing home abuse as people are becoming more concerned with nursing
residents receiving proper care as they have noticed the trend of residents who
have become sick with superbugs. If you
or a loved one have suffered from a drug-resistant infection while at a nursing
home, please call my office for a free consultation.
SOURCES
http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-uncounted-outbreaks/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bug-problem-in-nursing-homes-1494861654
