Does anybody ever have problems with nursing home staff falling asleep on the job at night?

Nurses are usually not cost effective to sit with patient 1:1. Unless by private payee. Yes if I saw a paid nurse sleeping that was specifically hired to take care of that one patient I would be angry.

You are right. Most nurses are co-dependent and just "do" when others don't. I have witnessed mental health or nursing assistants sleeping in patients room. The patient usually on 1:1 due to assaultive or suicidal behavior. Often they pull any staff from hospital that wants an overtime shift to sit with a patient. The supervisor would do schedule for next shift. Heard supervisor say "we need a "BODY" to sit with a patient. If the person was not a health care professional they were not allowed to touch the patient. They would call out for the nurse. I did speak to supervisor stating first of all a BODY has a name, and if the person pulled from another unit wasn't allowed to touch the patient it really was not helpful. Hospital didn't care.

Martina Marie, of course we all are eternally grateful for all the great nurses! But, it has been my experience that the really good ones never defend the greater number of caregivers who are horrible. Really now, can you honestly say that if you were paying someone to care for someone you truly love, and you walked in and found this loved one soaked, soiled and slumped over in a chair while the nurse or aide was sleeping while be paid to work, your thoughts would be turned to the one in ten who does a good job?

I understand original poster is venting. It's that so many of responses are agreeing with accusations and automatically suggesting nurses are sleeping and telling patients to soil themselves. That's ridiculous. And unless you are there to witness what night shift entails it's unfair to accuse nurses of neglect. And I seriously doubt the nurse who "takes turns" sleeping at night is inaccurate. Many times as a nurse I would not even be able to eat, drink or use the bathroom. While a family member is sleeping at home and comes in and makes that assessment is sad. I agree. Complain, complain, complain. It works. The squeaky wheel that threatens to sue ( although the nurses won't be affected it is the hospital and physician. We are very low on totem poll). It does make our supervisor to demand certain things. I had a very obese ( over 400 pound patient.....hoyer lift with 4 people). patient who had a family that was always complaining. They DEMANDED their mother get scheduled medication before all other patients. She was prescribed a Tylenol and multivitamin. I had patients on insulin and had to administer that when food trays came up 15 minutes before they ate. We nurses all knew our day was going to be a bad one when assigned to the complaining/obese patient. Of course when I only had two staff available to help lift and needed extra they all left the room. But she did get her Tylenol first. The squeaky wheel will get the grease. We celebrated the day she transferred to live with her family. Family couldn't handle it...patient died within 2 months.

I take care of my Mom and sleep in same room. Yes, I do sleep at times. Mom is now in diapers this past 4-6 weeks. I thought of your question over recent week as I am in this new diaper situation. I try to change her just before I know she is sleeping through the night. Not unusual that she is not changed during the night. Not practical. I am not waking up for that nor is mom. Not that I wouldn't if mom required or requested it. I would not be able to accept these health issues that have developed! My friend's husband has MS and she took superb care of him until he had to be put in a nursing home. Within one month he had UTI and bed sores. Almost died because the bedsore hole went so deep. She got him back to health by moving him to another nursing home. A really great place! Even there she had to insist strongly and repeatedly on certain matters regarding his care. She got an advocate and meetings with nursing home management supervisors etc. She made them aware that she would be relentless in his having proper care. They did what was needed and he is thriving and happy there. He is paralyzed below the waist and something as simple as keeping his water bottle within reach was not happening among other issues. What I am saying is you need to be relentless with the supervisors and management. Don't let anyone be complacent about her care! Most nurses and doctors are fabulous and some just need a reminder that they can be.

The suggestion that you speak with primary physician is sometimes difficult. They spend 5-15 minutes with each patient then ask the nurse how many hours did they sleep. The doctors often won't accept phone calls from families because they don't want to be tied up. They want to see as many patients and get paid as much money as they can. They typically work 8-4 so they are not direct witness to the nurse allegations. I'm still insulted you state the nursing staff "'makes your life hell". Why put all nurses in that category? Are you there at night?

Coming from an RN who worked the 11-7 at night shift mostly. I can say the shift is one of the hardest to work. Everything you mentioned in your post is a distinct horrible lack of care and duties. If a nurse, or an aide, is feeling the burden due to unsafe practices, and this can be due to staffing issues, take your complaints up the nursing "tree" begin from the bottom aides on up. You have the right to complain to see where the buck stops.
I had serious complaints about a nurse accused of drug diversion on the 11-7 shift .The aide came to me and said she saw the nurse ingest pan medications from the floor stock in a locked cabinet. The issue this poor aide had was the the nurse taking the medications was a close personal friend of the director of nurses.and often went out together at night with their spouses.
I had an issue also, it was not my place to begin an independent investigation of the nurse as we both held the same license. I spoke with the administrator and I was given the clearance to begin the investigation. It took only two shifts to find out something was not right with the documentation The nurse refused help by the board and now has her license revoked.
This is a care issue for your mom. You need to be her advocate against some of these "for profit" nursing home conglomerates. These companies have billions to keep their name clear. There are ways to find out the history about nurses, Every state keeps a database about any discipline against a nurse or an aide. There is the countrywide database,nursys. "quick confirm" is the way to find out about an LPN or RN. Contact your state public health department about aides.
Stick to your guns, your mom was there for you and you must now be there for here. God bless

I reread the OP and nowhere does she mention "nurse". My daughter has worked as an LPN ten an RN for almost 20yrs in nursing/rehab facilities. An RN would not be changing diapers or taking patients to the bathroom, a CNA would. In Del they do the one on one with the patient. There r good employees and bad employees. I agree, go to the director of nursing first. If u get nowhere, go above her to the administrator. If nothing is done, then go to the state. Like any job, sleeping on the job is a reason to be fired.

I was a nurse for 28 years. I thought I could help others with experiences I have had both professionally and personally as a nurse and daughter working and caring for elderly parents. The post about nurses falling asleep and snoring is ridiculous. What's more upsetting is all the judge mental opinions during this feedback thread. I celebrate all that can read, no the truth and continue to be selfless in their encounters. I salute you. I personally never want to deliver direct patient care again

I can't believe this thread is so unsupportive of nurses....you should be ashamed of yourselves. So judgement all and quick to point the finger.

Martinamarie - As caregivers, we understand how hard the nursing home job is. We all know wonderful nurses and aides who do their job right. Please don't be offended when we get angry at the few - but still too many - who just don't care. I bet that as a nurse, you would agree that someone who literally sleeps on the night shift SHOULD be fired.

If the staff is sleeping, there is NO night shift! The shouldn't be paid for sleeping.

Night nursing shift typically ends at 7am. I am sure the morning nurses would be very interested in hearing they were told to sleep in soiled diapers all night. I am betting there is no scrambling to get that job done at 6am. Called lazy night staff!! Disgrace. Make noise and speak to a lawyer.

Sad, sad, sad. We grew up in a generation where we were taught to respect our elders. Now we are forced to live our final years in a society that mostly considers us worthless. "We put our hope in the Lord, HE is our help and our shield....Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone." Political correctness will come to an end, but the kingdom of the Lord endures forever. Right now that is our only hope.

With all due respect, the original poster's MOTHER is being mistreated. She does NOT have to be concerned about being politically correct right now!!! Nor does she have to *care about nurses being "over-worked and underpaid." The job description and pay was made clear before they accepted the job. On the other hand, the original poster was assured her mom would receive 24/7 care in the nursing home and now she's the victim of bait and switch!!! Of the 26 nursing homes I've seen, only 2 had cameras. If this is a witch-hunt, sign me up! They have it coming....

I don't think they caused congestive heart failure. The heart muscle stops working hard enough and the result is water retention and pnemonia. I would report the night shift and ask Social Services at the hospital to help place her in another facility.

That is so sad. I hope you find another place for your Mom soon.

I am a retired nursing home administrator and concur that some nursing homes are not good and some nurses have been caught sleeping at night, but this is not typical behavior. I would encourage you to report your story to the administrator and allow the facility to investigate. If the facility does not handle in a manner that you think is appropriate, then call the state office responsible for investigating complaints. (The local Ombudsman doesn't have the "teeth" to enforce, so I would only use them for minor issues.) You have the right to choose a more suitable facility and have the right to refuse to return to this one but be sure to tell the hospital discharge planner ASAP. Otherwise, the hospital will assume your mother is going to return to this facility.
The allegation that the staff's negligence caused your mother's readmission could be confirmed by discussing with the attending physician. It is also possible that your mother's condition is too fragile to know for sure. An attorney experienced in medical malpractice will have a clinical staff who can dig through the medical documentation and arrive at a conclusion as well, but this takes time and effort, and if there is no lasting harm to your mother, an attorney may not want to invest this time and effort due to little or no money to seek for the minimal "damages".
EDITORIAL COMMENT: It is my conclusion after 40+ years working in nursing homes that they are models of efficiency, not models of compassion, which would be OK if there were more compassionate workers to fill the positions needed. But society has done nothing to improve how we reward compassion (compassion is not seen as a marketable skill) and the economic rewards for working in a nursing home environment ensure that many who may make truly good nurses and aides will end up somewhere else. (Nursing homes rely on reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid for the majority of their revenue, and these programs are constantly imposing limitations and cuts.)

Whoa, I see tons of red flags here. First of all, get your mother out of that place pronto; it is so ill run. Next, if the nurses there fall asleep while at work or tell your mother that's what the diaper is for, they all need to be fired.

Wow. I'm a nurse and so many of these threads want to fire, call social services, Medicare etc and report and file accusations before facts....that's great. Didn't know so many people are so quick to judge and blame all the "lazy" nurses out there. Feels like a witch-hunt. I've told many a patient who had an I dwelling catheter to go ahead and urinate if they had the urge. Guess all within ear shot thinks I'm a horrible nurse too.....add me to the list. In fact....write congress, clergy or whatever and get rid of all nurses. That should fix the problem.

I'm a nurse. I have worked night shift in 4 hospital settings. I have never been witness to my co-workers all sleeping and snoring on the job. Yes, I have worked with co-workers that would be on the lazy side. How do you know all these nurses are sleeping and snoring. There are usually camera's located near nursing stations and in hallways. I'm sorry if your Mom was mistreated, and of course the nurses should be reported if they are negligent. But please check your facts. We are over worked, understaffed and expected to pass medications within an hour of administration time or we get written up. Please don't generalize all nurses. Most of us do the best we can with VERY limited resources.

Yes! I got a call late Sunday morning that my mom had "a bruise on her eye." I came in and found it was a black eye. She definitely got punched. The staff claim ignorance, that she was fine when she went to bed, they checked her every 30 minutes and she was sleeping all night. You'd have to be stupid not to know that's bs!! I think the only one sleeping was the nurse!!! My mother will be 81 in a few weeks. She deserves so much better than this. Nursing homes suck, that's just the fact of the matter. At a certain level of need, nursing homes are the ONLY option. That also sucks. And I'm so sorry about your mom. I know that heartbreak. My mom has overflowing diapers A LOT. Right now I'm sorting out how to choose my battles and not have her become a target. Again, I'm so sorry. That is wrong. If no one at the nursing home will acknowledge it, I will. That is degrading and inhumane and I cry for your mother, as well as mine.

Contact the Dorector of Nursing, and the facility Administrator immedialty. Poor nursing is bad enough but telling someone to use thier brief is a violation of every right out there and is a form of abuse. DO NOT wait any longer. Be you mom's advocate and do not hesitate to contact the State Heatlh Commissionand any other agency. This facility should be cited and shut down. You may be saving more lives than just your moms. So sorry you are having this experience and I cringe when I hear this. It is horrible and someone needs to be held accountable.

I am soooooosad and sorry. As I have reported here several times, no one listens to our complaints. I have a "gallery" of photos of sleeping nursing aides, have made at least five complaints to the state department of health and am in contact with the administrators of the agency once or twice weekly. No one cares about the photos, they turn it around that we are a "sensitive" case. What will it take to get someone to listen? I just am so sorry for everyone who is going through this horrible abuse with us. And what about all those who have no one to advocate for them?

You need to report that to whatever state agency governs Nursing homes, your state's senior advocate if they have one, your local representatives, the BBB and any other agencies that deal with bad services or seniors. The more bad press they get the more they will be forced to straighten up and you may save some other poor person from their abuse.

This may seem harsh, but I recommend you meet with a reputable attorney to discuss the liability the nursing home has for current and future medical expenses for conditions that were exacerbated by their negligent care. The attorney will know best and advise you accordingly.

Do not put up with this. No one on night shift should be sleeping. Do we sleep on day shift? Well night is no different. Take the advice here and report this facility. Check into an adult family care home for your mom. They are small homes, my moms has 6 residents. Putting my mom in this type of facility was the best decision we ever made. If you need more information about these types of home pm me and i would be happy to give you more information about them. No one should be encouraged to wet themselves, diaper is for accidents not convenience of staff!

I'm also an RN (28 years night shift) and I agree with the previous answers. Anyone so lazy as to tell a patient "that's what the diaper is for" needs to be fired. Sleeping while on duty should warrant automatic firing.

When my neighbor had 3 young children & pregnant with #4, she worked overnight at a local NH. I asked her when she slept, as it wasn't during the day. She told me "at work" and they all took turns.

I am also a nurse and want to say that this is not what good nursing care is about. However, instead of immediately contacting all the different agencies you should start right at the facility with the Director of Nursing asking for an immediate appointment or even talking to her/him at that time, the next person should be the Administrator of the faculty. The facility to should have a chance to investigate their internal problems. Then, proceed on with reporting to higher authorities. For protection of your mom and her health, do not return her to that facility!