Long Term Care Facility Risk

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Anchor lead: As the country grapples with Covid-19, residential care facilities are once again a locus of infection, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Residential care facilities, which often provide both housing and healthcare to seniors, are once again seeing many of their residents developing Covid-19, with dire results. Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, says high infection rates should not be blamed on their staff.

Davidson: I want to recognize the amazing care that is provided in those facilities by certified nursing assistants. Every time I hear those words ‘skilled nursing facility’ I bristle. Because I think it’s an oxymoron. The number of registered nurses in those facilities is perilously low. Instead what we are doing is placing responsibility of care on amazing individuals who are certified nursing assistants and others who really care but don’t have the training to be able to do that appropriately.  :34

Davidson says both training and proper equipment are key to stemming infections. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.