Weight Loss Prevention
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STAFFING CHALLENGES AWAIT NURSING HOMES AT MEALTIMES
Having assessed residents' risk for weight loss (Step 1) and determined who among the at-risk residents is best served by which intervention (mealtime or snack-Step 2), you are now in a position to make informed decisions about how to efficiently use what may be your facility's most valuable resource: staff time.
The staffing challenges facing nursing homes at mealtimes are daunting. Consider, for example, that experts recommend a ratio of five residents to one nurse aide during mealtimes to ensure proper feeding assistance, but the ratio in most nursing homes is 8 to 10 residents to one nurse aide during the breakfast and lunch meal periods and 12 to 15 residents per aide during dinner (1). A recent report to Congress noted that 9 out of 10 nursing homes did not have sufficient staff to adequately care for residents.
With such severely restricted staff resources, nursing homes must work smarter in order to wring the most out of what they have. The information you gathered in the Step 1 and 2 assessments empowers you to do that. In this next step, you translate the knowledge gained from the resident assessments into a staffing scheme that is as effective as it is cost-efficient.
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