Being a nursing home worker is a noble profession. You take care of elderly residents and make sure they get their medications and nutritious food. You keep them company, read to them, and make sure they enjoy their golden years.
However, Covid-19 has made this is a challenging year for nearly every profession. Nursing home workers are no exception. Under the current circumstances, lack of a care management solution to help nursing homes staff keep organised and schedules clear could be critical. There are some particular issues you might face right now if you’re a nursing home worker or you’re thinking about becoming one.
Before you decide that you want to move in that direction, consider these problems that currently plague this industry.
They Have More Work Than Ever These Days
In 2020, nursing home staff are overworked. There are plenty of their regular chores they must do. For instance, as a nursing home worker, you must:
- Prepare resident meals
- Change bedpans
- Help the residents dress and undress
These are all parts of the job, and if you go into the profession, you should expect them. If you don’t mind helping people and looking after elderly individuals, you should be okay with all of that.
With Covid-19, nursing home employees have more work than ever before. They have to make sure they wear masks, and the residents do as well.
They have to clean frequently and ensure the residents keep six feet apart from each other. They have to make sure they have plenty of hand sanitizer and use it.
Some of the residents might not understand what is happening in the world. If they’re dealing with dementia, the staff might find it difficult to keep explaining to them why they can’t take their masks off or visit their neighbors.
Facing Layoffs
It’s also true that some nursing home workers are losing their jobs right now. Nursing homes, like many other institutions, are losing money. That’s because:
- Some families can no longer afford to have their relatives stay in a home
- There are additional costs now, like for cleaning supplies and masks
Most nursing homes face higher operating costs. Some of the high-end ones are doing okay if they can retain their residency numbers, but many are hemorrhaging money.
That means they’re laying off lots of workers. They might keep some of the ones that have been there longest, but most homes have had to reduce their staff to try to stay open.
Some Homes Are Ejecting Residents
As a nursing home worker, you form bonds with the people for whom you care. That’s only natural if you’re good at the job.
At the moment, to stay in business, homes are raising their rates. Some families are pulling residents out. However, some of the residents who no longer have any living family members are running out of money in 2020.
When this happens, the home does not legally have to keep them there. They might eject an older resident if they can no longer pay. It’s sad, but nursing homes are not charitable foundations.
It can break a nursing home worker’s heart to see their favorite residents turned out in the street. Many of them will have to head to homeless shelters. That’s a tough thing for someone who cares about them to see, yet there isn’t much the average employee can do about it.
They’re Dealing with More Death
If you’re a nursing home worker, you’re probably going to see residents die at some point. These are elderly individuals, and many of them are close to their life’s end. Like cleaning up after them, dressing them, etc., a nursing home employee must accept this.
The pandemic is picking off some elderly nursing home residents, though. Even though the workers try to take all the proper precautions, it’s precisely this population segment that Covid-19 is hitting the hardest.
As a nursing home worker, you might see a few people die if you’re in the profession long enough. This is something different, though. If Covid-19 gets into a particular nursing home, you might see your more residents die every day.
It’s easy to see why some nursing home workers are facing depression and anxiety right now. Even if they still have their jobs, they might feel like they’re about to lose them. They might dread going to work where once they loved their daily routines.
You should think about all of this if you feel like nursing home worker is the profession for you. You might decide to reconsider and go in another direction.