Nursing home staffing shortages not new story

The story about nursing home staffing in the May 19 Gazette is not “news.” The issue was highlighted almost 4 years ago, during the height of the COVID pandemic. I remember a case around that time where a nursing home employee was working at two different nursing homes in the Oskaloosa area. When they had to stop working at one home, they went to work at the other and potentially introduced COVID into the other, likely resulting in 15 resident deaths.

This is not a simple problem to solve. There is a balance point between nursing home staff wages/workload, resident safety, and nursing home profitability/affordability/availability. See Rasmussen’s dynamic safety model. I bet our legislators aren’t even aware of this model. Perhaps if they were, they would pass meaningful legislation that would help nursing homes find the operating point where patient safety, staff workload, and economic viability can coexist. Some in-depth reporting by The Gazette about true nursing home costs (dollars and patient safety), wages, and profits might be helpful in changing the minds of ignorant or recalcitrant legislators.

Tom Persoon

Coralville