Answer to Question 1
The overriding concern with nursing homes is whether they offer the elderly a pleasant and healthy environment. Many residents are sick and vulnerable, making them easy targets for exploitation by the unscrupulous. In some homes, the elderly suffer from unappetizing and poorly prepared food, dark corridors and stairwells, and severe boredom and apathy. Sometimes basic physical care, such as prompt assistance to the bathroom, is slow or lacking. Elderly nursing-home residents also sometimes suffer from physical and psychological abuse at the hands of nursing-home personnel.
Answer to Question 2
There are two main reasons for poor conditions in nursing homes. First, in profit-making, or proprietary, institutions, there is a tension between the necessity of making a profit and the desire to provide services to the residents. A second reason for poor conditions in nursing homes is that they have difficulty hiring and keeping qualified staff. People with little or no training in health care or gerontology are often hired because they will accept low salaries and cannot find other work.
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