How to manage complaints at your nursing home.
If you operate a nursing home, then it’s natural to receive complaints from your residents and their family members. Properly addressing these complaints is an important part of avoiding more serious risk with your business. Here what you should do to manage complaints at your nursing home.
Understand Common Complaints
First, it’s important to understand that most complaints are valid and are brought up when a resident’s health, safety, or comfort may be compromised. Some of the most common complaints made by residents or their family members include the following:
- Inadequate response to calls
- Inadequate staffing
- Food quality concerns
- Sleep disruptions
- Lack of activity or social interaction
How to Handle Complaints
If your facility has been on the receiving end of complaints, then it’s vital that you and your staff address these concerns. Proper complaint management is a key part of keeping residents satisfied and feeling safe in your care.
The first step to proper complaint management is actually encouraging residents and their loved ones to voice their concerns. While this may seem counterintuitive, it’s much better to be proactive and understand complaints before they become major issues.
The next step to proper complaint management is documenting all complaints carefully. Your records of the complaint should include who filed the complaint, when the complaint was received, and what you did to address the complaint. Not only is this useful in helping you and your managers understand how complaints arise, but it also helps if a complaint turns into a legal issue. Your documentation can act as proof that you have taken steps to address the issues at hand.
Finally, once you understand the specifics of the complaint, you and your staff should work together to create adequate solutions. Once solutions have been agreed upon, then make sure you communicate the plan with the resident who filed the complaint. This way, they know that you have taken their concerned serious and actively looked for ways to handle the issue.
This is what you should do to manage complaints at your nursing home. Want another way to take care of your healthcare facility? If so, then make sure you have the right insurance protections in place. For assistance with all your business insurance needs, contact the experts at PMC Insurance Group today.
