Elder abuse in nursing homes: The impact of dementia/special care units
Elder abuse is a topic that impacts everyone in America at some point in their life. Special care units also called dementia units are protected areas in a nursing home that are specially designed for dementia/Alzheimer patients. This thesis reviewed how a special care unit in a nursing home affect the number and severity of deficiencies reported to Medicare. The data was collected from Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare system and the Illinois Public Health Department. This study reviewed 770 nursing homes in Illinois were reviewed, 141 had special care units during the time of data collection. The facilities had a range of total deficiencies from one to 74 with Level of Harm ratings ranging from one to four on a four-point scale. The results showed that residents in a nursing facility that has a special care unit are at a greater risk of a higher Level of Harm but no difference in the number of deficiencies. Possible causes of this greater risk are due to the intrinsic nature of the population in special care units, the need for policy and procedural changes in nursing facilities, and potential surveyor bias.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign