What steps to take when you have to deal with rude, uncaring and disrespectful staff at a nursing home?

If your family member was recently admitted then there should be an initial care plan meeting to go over what their situation is and you should have a list of ? & concerns to present at it and have notated in her chart. If they have been there for a while, then the care plan meetings are every 90 days, so bring the list to that. Now this is assuming that you are the elders DPOA & MPOA and as such have standing to do this. If you are not, then it is whomever is their DPOA & MPOA should do this.

You don't give examples of what the problems are but what often happens is that family is unrealistic on what a facility is required to provide. They want Ritz Carlton care on Quality Inn payment; staff may not be rude but are exasperated with family requesting a care level that just will not ever be there; or being asked to do things by family who has no legal standing; or asking for things that require MD orders to be done. What are you wanting done or changed?

Do you know what the ratings are for this place? CMS has details on all places that get Medicare & Medicaid funding. If they at a 100% Medicaid residents, then very likely just the basics are going to be provided for room & board and medical care dictated by whatever orders that their MD has written. Personally I think a NH that has a 50 - 60 % Medicaid with the balance of private pay or LTC residents is best in a NH.

Then there are NH which a just plain bad. For those, the only recourse is to move your elder as Jeannie Gibbs said. If your elder is already cleared their Medicaid application, it is pretty simple to move them. medicaid allows for that to be done without any penalty placed on the resident by the facility. You want to try to time their exit to right at the end of the month or right at the end of their billing cycle, so that you have a full SS/ retirement income to be able to pay the new NH upon day 1. If they are in Direct Deposit on their income, you need to get that switched off which could take 2 months to do. I moved my mom from bad NH # 1 to a much much better NH # 2 at about month 10 of her being in a NH. Only glitch was bad nursing station attitude on providing all mom's medications to move with her. Good luck with whatever you do.

Many of the facilities near me have 800 # posted for Ombudsmen. You might try giving them a call. Is your Mom on Medicaid? If so, your state agency on aging may be able to investigate. Personally, if I called either number, I would do so anonymously rather than risk any retaliation towards my loved one! If the facility is part of a corporate organization, you might try that number as well.

As Jeanne said, the best would be to move the resident, if possible.

Is it feasible to find another nursing home?