Long-Term Care
Improving the quality of care in nursing homes requires operators to address an array of staffing issues simultaneously, although use of temporary nurses and inconsistent training for new staff members appear to have the greatest potential to undermine nursing home quality, a study in Health Services Research found.
According to researchers, these factors had a greater impact on quality of care than staffing levels and turnover rates, two characteristics that have been the primary focus of previous research.
The authors maintain that nursing home quality is influenced by factors other than favorable staffing levels and advocate a more comprehensive approach to quality improvement in nursing homes (Castle/Engberg, Health Services Research, October 2007).