Human Resources and Staffing Crisis at Blumberg’s Nursing Home

Blumberg’s Nursing Crisis

HSA 545

Blumberg’s Nursing Home is a 100-bed facility in suburban Philadelphia, PA. The nursing home is a Medicaid as well as Medicare facility. The administrator has had to recently terminate 3 very important members of the staff; the Director of Nursing (DON), receptionist, along with the dietary aid, for inappropriate conduct. They had all been involved in purchasing illegal substances on facility grounds. What makes matters worse in this case is that the more lucid residents of the facility along with the facility staff have found out about this incident.

The first order of business for Blumberg’s administrator would be to hire a new DON, since the charge nurse is not an RN. Next, a dietary aid because there are probably many residents who have dietary restrictions and modifications that need to be followed, so that is definitely something very important that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible. I would say then a receptionist, as the staff should be able to help cover in some of the receptionist duties, as least in the interim.

In addressing the issues of the inappropriate behaviour of the staff, I think that it was a great idea to call a staff meeting to re-address and/or re-establish the code of ethics to all the staff.. I would ensure that the staff understand that this is a huge deal and even get the code of conduct reprinted and signed and dated by the staff, as well as the new staff coming in.

I would reformulate a human resource policy and be sure to focus on staff development. When I think of staff development, I think for that to typically mean taking the extra steps to train associates to enhance their knowledge and expertise. Enhanced knowledge and expertise with your workforce plays a critical role in building internal organizational strengths that I think every facility needs in any kind of environment.

On this same note, I think staff development must go far beyond just improving basic skills. The main goal of staff development should be to make the employees productive citizens not only of the organization but also of society. I think that approaching staff development from this broad perspective can pay rich dividends in better quality, improved morale, higher commitment, and greater retention.

I think something very important in Blumberg’s training is should be to help assimilate the workers into the organization’s culture through a clear understanding of the organization’s vision, mission, and values. I think that Blumberg’s new associates in particular should receive appropriate training in the facility’s rules, policies, and procedures. Blumberg’s training should also include other very important areas such as resident relations, family relations, teamwork, stress management, conflict resolution, work safety, and quality management (Singh p. 372).

I also believe that there is a direct correlation between associates who act responsibly in their social and home lives, who are also likely to be responsible and committed at work. I think there are many family and social issues that can affect how employees are at their day to day. I think for us all at one time or another, it is very hard to separate to two. I think teaching these skills to cope on the outside, can go a long way to helping perform the job on the inside. Money management, family budgeting, problem solving, child care, nutrition, and wellness are only a few areas in which most associates can benefit from training (Singh p.374).

` As far are reporting violations of the human resource policies, I would make sure that I had an anonymous way set up that the employees could report these things to management. I would have certain levels and steps set up to evaluate these violations and have the employees sign and acknowledge any time these violations occurred. When the last level was reached, I would ensure that the termination process was followed correctly.

I believe having a great leader in place that will demonstrate quality leadership skills will help to bring Blumberg’s staff and level of professional back where it needs to be. When I think about a leader, I think about someone who is dynamic, meaning they have the ability to lead and to follow members of staff that maybe have good ideas and have been at Blumberg longer. I think this is going to be key in getting things back on track after this big change. I think some of the biggest traits I would pick would be: honesty, competency, be forward thinking, intelligent, fair-minded, inspiring, as well as imaginative.

Being a forward thinking especially in Blumberg’s case is going to be important because setting goals and having a clear cut vision for the future of the home is going to be key to get them going in the right direction. This leader must get all the employees on board with the vision and be able to prioritize what things are most important to tackle first.

Being fair-minded is also an important trait because this new manager is going to have to be able to show fair to treatment to all employees. This will be very important when it comes to dealing with the violations and enforcing the consequences of breaching the rules set forth (Harrington p.46-49).

Lastly, I would say being imaginative is a big one. Blumberg needs someone who can come in and restore the faith and confidence in not only the residents but the families of the residents. The staff needs to know that they can our getting a leader that is going to set clear cut rules in place, but be willing to learn from them and listen to the needs to the needs of the facility (Krine p.56).

A good way for the new DON to start to see where the needs lie at Blumberg would be to start with a Quality Indicator Survey. This is a long term care survey that is a computer assisted process used by certain State Survey Agencies. These help to determine if Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes are in fact, meeting the proper federal requirements. There has recently been a production grade software that is now being used, called ASE-Q.

Some of the objectives of this survey was:

In conclusion, I think as long as an effective leader is put into place who has an imagination, honesty, and drive. One who can come in and get Blumberg’s employees motivated and back on track, and understanding of what exactly needs to be done. I think use of the survey will prove very useful to the next DON.

1. To improve consistency and accuracy of quality of life problem identification by using a far more structure process.
2. Ensure a more timely and effective feedback on survey processes for surveyors and managers.
3. Aids review systematically certain regulatory requirements and objectively investigate all areas within current survey resources that may have been triggered from the survey.
4. Lastly, it helps to focus survey resources on and within facilities that seem to carry the largest number of concerns (Krine p.89).

REFERENCES

Harrington, C., Carrillo, H., & Mercado-Scott, C. (2005). Nursing facilities, staffing, residents, and facility deficiencies, 1998 through 2004. San Francisco, CA: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences – University of California

Krein, K. (2003). Choosing a medical director: One size does not fit all. Nursing Homes Long Term Care Management.

Singh, Douglas A.(2016). Effective Management of Long-Term Care Facilities [3rd edition], Sudbury, Massachusetts, Jones and Bartlett