Abstract
The number of older adults requiring nursing home level of care continues to rise and is expected to continue as the baby boom generation ages. The quality of nursing home care has been a significant policy issue for several years, as poor quality of care continues to be an endemic problem in many of the U.S nursing homes. The Nursing Home Reform Act passed in 1987 was designed to set quality standards to improve nursing home care quality. In 1998 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid responded by implementing Nursing Home Compare, which is a tool to inform consumers about nursing home quality. Social workers often play a key role in advocating for resident rights and ensuring residents’ psychosocial needs are being met. Care quality can have a large impact on the overall wellbeing of a resident. The purpose of this study was to learn about nursing home social workers perspectives of what quality care is and if their perspectives are similar to quality indictors identified on the Minnesota Nursing Home Report Card and Nursing Home Compare. Eight nursing home social workers participated in individual semi-structured interviews answering fourteen questions regarding their perspectives of quality care in the nursing home setting. The participants’ responses demonstrated similar quality care indicators compared to the Minnesota Nursing Home Report Card and Nursing Home Compare. Participants’ responses evolved into themes regarding resident centered care and quality of life, quality indicators and lack of response, staffing ratios, retention and burnout, leadership and empowerment, awareness and use of report cards and informed consumers. Developing an understanding of indicators that contribute towards good quality care in the nursing home setting will allow social workers to advocate for residents to ensure they experience the highest achievable quality of life possible.