The COVID-19 pandemic wounded many long-term care facilities. Medical professionals handled the brunt of the fatalities and serious illnesses. For your clients who own or manage a nursing home, their staff’s long-term stress may have ill effects. Staff burnout poses a risk to assisted living facilities. Fatigued, stressed workers have a higher likelihood of negligent accidents. Owners of assisted living facilities require ALF risk management to protect their care centers.
Support Nursing Home Staff
Nurses, physicians, and other caregivers experience anxiety, grief, and trauma through the work they do in assisted living facilities. The long-term care industry is full of workers who put others first and take no time for themselves. To support the staff, employers and managers should provide access to mental health professionals.
Teaching medical professionals how to breathe and how to practice self-care can improve their mental state. When addressing nursing home worker burnout, discuss with your clients a quiet room for staff to escape to during a hard shift. Some may require bereavement counseling.
Be Appreciative of the Staff’s Hard Work
Staff members experiencing the stress of burnout do not always feel confident in their position. Your clients should show appreciation and recognize caregivers for their hard work. Appreciation may take the form of a verbal compliment, an event, or personalized thank you cards.
Clients may want to spread positivity through the home. Advise them to gossip about staff achievements and to celebrate professionals’ milestones. They can involve activity directors to lift staff spirits. Bingo nights, karaoke, and parades are a great way to create a fun and lively environment for staff and residents.
Cultivate a Safe Staff Environment
The nursing home staff dedicates themselves to patient health and wellness. ALF risk management needs to take worker health and safety into account. In a medical facility, personal protective equipment protects staff from workplace injuries and illness.
PPE for nursing home professionals include:
- Protective clothing
- Gloves
- Face shields
- Face masks
Your clients should prioritize PPE. Managers can keep PPE at the point of care to ensure caregivers remember to use it.
Risk management takes into consideration the risks to a person’s physical and mental health during challenging situations. Overworked nursing home workers have a higher chance of becoming burnt out because they have no help or backup. There should always be backups available to support staff when necessary.
Caregivers in a long-term care facility have a responsibility to care for residents, to manage patient and visitor concerns while protecting the safety of the most vulnerable in our population. To avoid staff burnout, employers need to focus on the emotional wellness of their staff. They can bring joy through safe practices, diversions and support. A part of risk management includes caring for staff.
About Connected Risk Solutions
At Connected Risk Solutions, we use our expertise and experience to provide insurance information and programs to those who serve long-term care and senior living facilities. Since 2007, we’ve been offering insurance and risk management plans designed to help our agents give their clients the ability to achieve continued growth while simultaneously protecting against loss, containing costs and increasing profitability. With three offices to serve you in Chicago, Illinois; Phoenix, Arizona; and Burlington, Connecticut, we do everything we can to make your experience with us as professional and transparent as possible. To learn more, contact us at (877) 890-9301.
