Ontario Nursing Homes: Poorly Staffed, More Likely to Use Restraints (Canada)

Ontario nursing homes poorly staffed, more likely to restrain residents: experts
5 July 2008

TORONTO — Ontario should look to the example set by Nordic countries and turn its understaffed, institutional long-term care homes, where residents are more likely to be restrained and medicated, into small community homes where staff have the time to drink coffee with their elderly charges, geriatric experts say.

In the wake of an analysis of nursing home inspection reports by The Canadian Press which found three-quarters of the province's homes are not meeting some of the province's 400 standards, some say it's time to fundamentally rethink how Ontario cares for its most vulnerable residents.
The provincial inspection reports, from April 2007 to March of this year, show some long-term care homes have been cited for failing to provide a minimum of two baths a week while other residents didn't own a toothbrush.
The majority of homes in Ontario were cited for violating the specific set of standards that ensure residents are well-fed, clean and free of pain, as well as dictating how homes care for incontinent residents and when they use restraints.
Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin said he is preparing to launch an investigation into whether the governing Liberals are holding homes to account and is calling for people to share their experiences of long-term care homes.

But geriatric expert Christopher Patterson said virtually all societies have been guilty of neglecting their elderly parents and grandparents, a trend his research suggests has not wavered since the Renaissance.

"It's really depressing," said Patterson, chief of geriatric services at Hamilton Health Sciences. "These are the people who have built our society, who have fought our wars, who have raised us and we don't appreciate them.

"They've paid their taxes and, at the end of the day, they're treated abysmally."
While Patterson said respect for the dignity of the elderly is hard to come by anywhere in the world, Ontario could learn from other jurisdictions to improve its nursing home care.
Ontario's long-term care homes are among the most short-staffed in North America, he said, keeping company with only a few of the southern American states.

The province's homes are also more likely to restrain residents leading to stress, injury and - sometimes - unnecessary deaths, he said.

"We certainly overuse them," Patterson said. "There is clear evidence that restraints don't actually save injuries but actually cause them."
A 2001 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, comparing Ontario long-term care homes to those in other jurisdictions, found over one-third of the province's elderly residents were restrained and given antipsychotic drugs while only six per cent of them received therapy.
"Without exception, Ontario (long-term care) residents receive less nursing care than their counterparts," said the report, adding this might explain why Ontario residents are more likely to be restrained or given drugs.

"Generally, pharmaceutical approaches require less staff time than behaviour management and evaluation programs."

Abridged
SOURCE: The Canadian Press
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Interesting comparisons with Scandinavian countries. Please go to source.

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