A new study published in Health Services Research reveals that higher staffing levels do not resolve key discrepancies between nursing homes with higher and lower percentages of residents with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other cognitive impairments. Researchers from the universities of California and Chicago released the report on December 29, 2023. It demonstrated that increased staffing and hours per resident day are consistently linked to higher care quality, but in ways that differ markedly between high- and low-dementia facilities. Findings include high-dementia nursing homes were better at preventing pressure sores and hospitalizations following an ER visit. Low-dementia nursing homes had better outcomes in maintaining residents’ activities of daily living and optimal use of antipsychotic medications.
Lead author Dana B. Mukamel, PhD, professor of medicine, public health and nursing at the University of California said “Our study finds that two things matter — number of staff and staff training, skills, and knowledge. Those nursing homes that have low staffing should first attend to increasing staffing size…. Those facilities that are already well staffed or are finding that increasing staffing at this time due to shortages is not feasible, should consider specialized training for staff caring for residents with dementia.” The researchers used Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) data during the pre-COVID period to conduct this study.
