Report on Resident to Resident Aggression at BC Care Homes
Prince George, B.C. – BC’s Senior’s Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie has examined resident to resident aggression in care homes and found 58% of all care homes reported no incidents.
That\s the good news, but Mackenzie says there were challenges in collecting data. Some care homes (204) fall under the rules and regulations of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act while 100 are covered by the Hospital Act. Because of those different categories, there are different rules for reporting incidents.
Still, Mackenzie says they examined 330 incidents. The facilities where the incidents took place had some common characteristics, in that they were facilities which had:
- More psychiatric diagnoses and more diagnosed aggression problems
- Higher instances of physical and verbal abuse
- Higher rates of anti-psychotic use
- Higher mobility
- Higher rates of independent walking
Her report found incidents were more likely to take place between 4pm and 8pm.
Mackenzie’s report makes five recommendations”
- A consistent definition of Resident to Resident Aggression (RRA) across Health Authorities
- Province-wide processes to track both RRA incidents and their follow up
- A review of the adequacy of staffing for residents with more complex needs, specifically during busy times like dinner hours (Ministry of Health called for a review of care hours in April 2016)
- More education for staff and management to ensure that staff report and address RRA incidents comprehensively
- Facility design features that are known to be effective in mitigating aggressive behaviours including the use of locking systems for private rooms to mitigate wandering behaviours
Comments
No kidding problems collecting data!!! In January of this year, this was the news that prompted the Seniors Advocate review on resident-on-resident violence:
“The deaths of 16 elderly people in three years along with hundreds of aggressive incidents at residential care facilities has prompted British Columbia’s seniors’ advocate to launch a review of resident-on-resident violence.”
ht tp://tinyurl.com/hu6utcn
We already know long-term senior care facilities in BC are grossly understaffed, I guess minimizing resident-on-resident violence in those facilities would be the smart thing to do prior to and election year for this BC Liberal Government (in name only)… this is only my opinion of course, because in this review the data is questionable and full of holes!
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