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July 1, 1999
Nursing Homes Implement Model Program of Abuse Prevention
(Chicago) -- To help its member facilities
provide a safer, more secure and more sensitive living
environment for residents, the Illinois Council on Long
Term Care, a professional trade association representing
over 200 Illinois nursing homes providing care to 35,000
residents, has developed an innovative new program for
preventing abuse and neglect in nursing homes.
The Health Care Financing Administration
has initiated a tougher inspection process for nursing
homes across the country, starting this month. Part
of this tough new inspection process is requiring a
more aggressive, proactive facility program to prevent
resident abuse and neglect.
In response to the new federal
requirements, the Illinois Council on Long Term Care
assembled a panel of legal, management, and clinical
experts to develop a model program of abuse prevention.
The comprehensive prevention program includes:
·
new facility policies for background checks
of employees
·
extensive orientation and training for
staff
·
specific investigation procedures for
reporting and investigating any suspected abuse
·
immediate measures to protect residents,
and
·
detailed management quality monitoring
probes.
The staff training program includes
a film on abuse prevention developed in cooperation
with Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan.
To assist its member facilities implement
all aspects of this state-of-the-art abuse prevention
program, the Illinois Council has hosted four statewide
training sessions across Illinois: two in Chicago, one
in Springfield, and one in Mt. Vernon. These educational
programs have reached over 2000 nursing home staff members.
The new HCFA requirements mandate
that facilities have seven elements in their Abuse Prevention
Program, all of which are covered by the Illinois Council
protocol:
Employee Screening for a history
of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment of residents, using
police background checks, references from previous and/or
current employers and collaborating with the appropriate
licensing boards and registries.
Training Employees, through
orientation and ongoing sessions, about dealing with
difficult resident behaviors; reporting their knowledge
of allegations of abuse; recognizing signs of burnout,
frustration and stress that may lead to abuse; and what
constitutes abuse, neglect, and misappropriation of
resident property.
Prevention Programs to encourage
residents, families, and staff to report their concerns,
incidents and grievances; provide feedback regarding
the concerns that have been expressed; and identify,
correct, and intervene in situations in which abuse,
neglect, and misappropriation of resident property are
more likely to occur.
Identification of any situation,
such as suspicious bruising of residents, occurrences,
patterns, and trends that may constitute abuse; and
to determine the direction of the investigation.
Aggressive Investigation of
different types of incidents and reporting of the result
to the proper authorities.
Protection of residents
from harm during an incident.
Reporting of substantiated
incidents to the appropriate local/state/federal agencies
and taking all necessary corrective actions depending
on the result of the investigation; report to the State
nurse aide registry or licensing authorities any knowledge
it has of any actions by a court of law which would
indicate an employee is unfit for service; and analyze
the occurrences to determine what changes are needed,
if any, to policies and procedures to prevent further
occurrences.
The Illinois Council designed
its abuse prevention program to ensure that its member
facilities are at the highest state of readiness in
addressing this crucial resident care issue.
“It is our hope that by developing
a detailed preventative policy for our member facilities,
the subject of resident abuse never comes up,”
states Martin J. Weiss, President of the Illinois Council
on Long Term Care. “The program reflects the ongoing
commitment of our member facilities to develop resident-sensitive
environments that provide the highest level of safety,
independence, and security.”
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