I have placed my Mom in a couple of NH over the past several years. What I have noticed overall is inefficient staff, inefficient operation, and the Directors and Social Worker stuck in their offices ALL day long, with what seems to me, no concern for what is actually going on in the daily operations with the elderly patients.
I've looked and compared facilities over and over again trying to find a few that are rated highly on the CMS.com site, but to NO AVAIL. They all seem to have many of the same infractions SO, my question to you is, WHY the heck are they allowed to stay open and operating?
I'm sure many of you have seen the recent video of the elderly woman who had vomited on herself only to be left sitting there until the staff has the time to tend to her. I hear room buzzers going off only to be ignored, etc. Why are we allowing these for profit nursing homes to continue to operate at such a deficient capacity? It's beyond sad to observe.
I think nursing homes are under staff, so when one sees a lot of buzzers going off, the Staff could be tending to patients who have serious medical issues.... when the triage situation is completed then the staff can tend to what may seem like a serious issue to the resident but in reality minor when it comes to triage.
My Mom was in a long term care unit and she would be calling the Staff to change her pamper, but her pamper wasn't wet when checked. Mom's roommate would buzz the nurse because she dropped something on the floor and needed it now.
No wonder there is a huge turn-over in Staff for some of the nursing homes.
FF makes a good point about how those assessments are made. However, inevitably, some real issues will not be dealt with as quickly as one would like. Have you addressed the problems you have with the NH your mum is in and had any success? I know it can be frustrating.