Can I force nursing staff to get my daughter out of bed and into her chair?

It sounds as if there's more to this than this one incident of them not putting your daughter into her chair when you think she should be there. Is the care staff open to communication? Is the nursing staff capable? Are the hands-on caregivers generally good? These are all things to consider. Sometimes a non-confrontational meeting with the staff to discuss differences can do wonders.

Other times, there's a fundamental issue in that the home isn't providing good care or the family wants a different style of care for the person in the facility. If the facility is consistently a problem, I'd suggest that you talk to the ombudsman about your daughter's rights. You can find the ombudsman by going to www.ltcombudsman.org. They provide an interactive map to help you find the right contact.

I hope that this works out for you. Many of us care for adult children which can be just as - if not more - worrisome than caring for our aging parents.

Take care,
Carol

Nurse's Aide positions are critical to the people we love who are in institutions, and help with home care. The are not given enough training, they are responsible for too many patients, and they are underpaid. They, and they alone, dictate the degree of interpersonal care and compassion our loved ones experience everyday from the first words they hear to the first touch they feel. Imagine if it was you laying in that bed. Here comes the Nurse's Aid who has to get 10 people out of bed, washed and dressed and ready for breakfast in one hour. Most of them work two jobs to make ends meet, and the others are going to school and working so they don't have to be Nurse's Aids any more. I think it's time to raise our voices, so that their pay reflects that they hold in their hands, the quality of life our loved ones receive every day, especially when we are not around. Better pay could mean our loved ones have more quality of life. Sorry, the whole system frustrates me

The keyword here is RESPECT for the frontline people taking care of the patients, AKA Certified Nursing Assistants. IT'S NOT JUST A JOB IT IS THE MOST NOBLE AND HONORABLE PROFESSION ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.

They are doing direct care spotting potential wounds or patient decline &^ resolving issues that Dr's and Nurses are alerted to only by the CNAs. Not to mention bathing every morning showering every 3 days dressing brief changing, peri care, feeding transfer from bed to wheel chair, WC to toileting, 3 to 4 times per day, mouth care, foot and hand care, hair care, linens, validation therapy, range of motion therapy, turning an immobile patients every 2hours to prevent bed sores, safety, Emptying Foley caths and maintenance, Colostomy cleaning and care. bed making and changing, changing soiled clothing when needed through out the day, denture care & hair care 3 or 4 times per shift and much more then that. Blood pressures pulse and respirations CAN A DOLLAR PRICE COMPENSATE THAT KIND OF SERVICE? CNAs are the eyes ears nose OF THE NURSES AND DOCTORS and THE VOICE of the patient. They are doing what families can not will not or are incapable of doing. If the family tried to do this at home without help it would take a toll on their own health. BEING A CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANT IS ( NOT JUST A JOB ) OR ( A BOTTOM RUNG ) POSITION IT IS THE MOST HONORABLE AND NOBLE ( PROFESSION ) AN INDIVIDUAL CAN ( ASPIRE ) TO BECOME. EVERYTHING THEY DO IS NURSING 101 AT IT'S MOST EXTREME SENARIO. ALL THE DOCTORS ORDERS THE NURSES ASSESSMENTS AND CHARTING ALL THE LPNS PILL ADMINISTRATIONS, ALL THE OCCUPATION/PHYSICAL THERAPY WOULD BE FOR NOT IF THE CNA'S DID NOT CARRY OUT A PATIENTS ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING AND CARE TO PREVENT INFECTION and provide safety THROUGH THE ABOVE MENTIONED TASKS. Not to mention the emotional support they give when the patients deal with what's happening to them at this point in life, the tears they have to soothe when patients feel abandoned by there families and or no longer have families. The CNAs emotional capacity to re-direct the patient into a more positive frame of mind in order to deal with the patient's current situation. Continuously 8 to 12 hrs a day and yet they still have their own personal lives and families trials and tribulations to deal with when they go home. Most people do no have the stamina or resilience to keep up a pace like that. I'D SAY THAT IS AN EXCEPTIONAL INDIVIDUAL WITH TALENTS MOST PEOPLE DO NOT never will HAVE. So when I hear IT'S JUST A JOB I have to enlighten the general population every once in a while.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What do you think would happen to our nation if these gifted individuals didn't exist or felt that it was just a job.

Mary C. RN,CWCA, CNA instructor

When my husband was in rehab to get stronger after a hospital stay, staff were leaving him in bed! I got help from the physical therapy department. Staff would get him up in the morning but after lunch put him in bed. When asked if he wanted to get up he'd day , no." So he would stay in bed for the rest of the day. Their excuse was he asked to stay in bed. I replied, but he is here to get stronger. This made no sense to me. After I talked with the physical therapists, the problem was solved. chris

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking the staff know best and they don't. They either don't know or don't care. I have experienced this. Try to talk to the nurse, she will help you, or explain things to you. I'm sorry your daughter is in this situation.

I am a retired nursing home administrator/RN. I am assuming that you are your dtr's POA and have the right to advocate for her plan of care, which should address her need for a suppository. Since the timing of her receiving the suppository seems to be the issue, you have the right to have the RN change the time this is done. I suspect that she is getting this done on the staff's timetable which is not optimal for your daughter's well being. I agree with Carol's point that a non-confrontational mtg should be attempted first, but also agree that this current issue could be one of many. If needed, talk to the administrator or director of nursing before getting the ombudsman involved. May God bless.

Unfortunately the nursing home will have the physical therapists evaluate a patient and make decisions as to what the patient is capable of. If the patients are put into chairs, there is a schedule that the aides follow. They go from room to room and put the patients in the chair for a certain amount of hours. This is after the patients have been fed and bathed so usually being transferred to a chair can happen in the afternoon. Then the next shift will return the patient to the bed. The nursing home staff runs on a schedule, so you will definitely have to speak to a head staff member for your request. If the patient is not able to get into the chair on her one, then they will use a hoyer lift. Basically it comes down to convenience for the nursing homes. They only do what they have to do, not always in the best interest of the patient and the family.

Maybe the nursing home administration who are paid extremely well, could take a pay cut, so that the aides could be paid better for the very important work that they do. I'll be you that a nursing home administrator has never tasted the food our loved ones eat, to see if it was something they would eat themselves. You never see administration eating the same food as the residents. My heart goes out to the residents who have swallowing problems and have to have their food pureed. Have you ever tasted pasta pureed. I have when my mother had to eat it. It was disgusting. I'll bet the speech therapist has never tasted the pureed foods they prescribe. God help us all when we are no longer independent. I hear your cries about the economy, but something has got to change.

It would really be wonderful if CNAs recieved six months training before they were certified. Then the quality of care would improve (I hope) In truth they recieve FIVE weeks classroom and hands on instruction. It is this short length of training and the ability to earn a little more than a burger flipper that directs many women into this job. I certainly aplaud Mary Cs praise of the CNAs and many do indeed do a fine job. The ones I found most dedicated where those working their way through nursing school. I have always felt that nurses of all grades are at the bottom of the feeding chain but like others just don't know where the money is comming from. Even if you cut the salary in half for the top administrators it wont make enough difference to pay the CNAs $20 an hour.

When a ground or pureed diet is ordered by a speech therapist there is a reason for this usually after a stroke the patients swallowing ability is compromised to such an extent that large pieces of food can be aspirated into the lungs and the resident can develop aspiration pneumonia.

That very thing happened to a member of my family. Her brother and his wife decided to take it upon themselves to bring in food and she ate it but she wound up having a crisis.

There is very little space between the larynx/ trachea that goes to the lungs and esophagus that goes to the stomach. After a stroke the automatic closure doesn't work properly ( wrong pipe in layman terms). you know that term. Anyway the same food served throughout the facility is the same just ground or pureed it was probably the TEXTURE that disgusted you. Sometimes the patient's liquids have to be thickened to a honey consistency and that means all liquids be careful with bringing outside beverages.

Please don't frighten your self about Nursing homes or assisted living. Living alone when you no longer drive or get about can be very isolating for the elderly they can go weeks and months without visitors. That would happen to me if I no longer could get in my car and attended various social functions on my own. At least your day is structured in a facility Up for breakfast at 8A your assisted to a dining room your with people for meals transferred if needed to freshen up OT/PT 9-10a crafts activities computer games 10-11:30A Dr's appointment, Hair Salon appts. Lunch is served 11:30-12:30 transferred if needed to freshen up toilet and get ready for entertainment between 2P -3P freshen up time after to get ready for supper at 5P.
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That's a schedule most people would envy in their golden years It's all the way you look at it and what your perspective is. We acually had a catered wedding between two resident's in the main ballroom 76 & 82 years young. So it's not that bad it's like living in a fine Hotel Laundry meals, and assistance and entertainment all provided. All depends on your condition at the time. The larger the facility the better