Survey: Nursing home residents happier with quality of care but less satisfied with quality of servi

New research finds that 82% of long-term care consumers and 70% of employees say they are satisfied with their facility. It marked a 2% rise compared to a year earlier among residents and family members describing their levels of satisfaction as “excellent” or “good,” according to study authors.

Residents and their families noted “modest” improvements in resident quality of life and qualify of care, said Neil Gulsvig, president and CEO of survey company My InnerView. However, declines were registered in satisfaction of quality of services – such as meals, laundry, cleanliness and management responsiveness.

Data revealed that long-term care nurses and nursing assistants have “the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the profession,” researchers added.

More than 146,000 nursing home residents and their family members, and 162,000 nursing home employees responded to the 2007 National Survey of Consumer and Workforce Satisfaction in Nursing Homes. Facilities participating in the voluntary Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes campaign and other quality improvement initiatives contracted with Wausau, WI-based My InnerView to gauge resident and staff satisfaction levels. Surveys were mailed directly to participants, who filled them out and returned them to My InnerView for analysis, Gulsvig said.

The full report can be seen at www.myinnerview.com