The Patient’s Bill of Rights, also referred to as Resident’s Rights or the Comprehensive Bill of rights, require the following of every skilled nursing facility: “The facility shall employ an adequate number of qualified personnel to carry out all of the functions of the facility.” See Health & Safety Code § 1599.1(a). More importantly, under California law, nursing homes are required to provide a minimum of 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day. Health & Safety Code §1276.5-1276.65. This means, for example, that if on a particular day a facility is in custody of 100 residents, it must clock in at least 320 hours of care by direct caregivers, which include only RN’s, LVN’s, and CNA’s, and not maintenance, janitorial, or other non-caregiver staff.

Of course, 3.2 Nursing Hours per patient per day is just a minimum requirement. In most instances, based on the Acuity needs of its residents, a nursing home must provide a much higher caregiver to patient ratio than just 3.2.

In a June 2002 report to the Senate Committees on Aging and Finance, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) determined that the quality of care in nursing homes is directly related to staffing. (See GAO, Nursing Homes: Quality of Care More Related to Staffing than Spending (Pub.No.GAO-02-431R, 2002)) “In the states we examined,” the report said, “nursing hours per resident day-especially nurses’ aide hours were related to quality-of-care deficiencies, with homes providing more nursing hours being less likely to have identified quality problems than homes providing fewer nursing hours.”

Understaffing, in turn, leads to substandard care, which leads to injuries and abuse. It’s actually quite simple: the fewer hours clocked in by direct caregivers, the more likely preventable injuries, and sometimes death, can occur. It’s also cheaper for nursing home operators to hire more nursing assistants and less licensed nurses, resulting, many times, in the provision of care by staff who are unqualified or inexperienced in providing the care they are asked to provide.

If you believe your loved one has suffered injuries in a Nursing Home as a result of short staffing, please Contact Us immediately.