More ‘strike’ teams, policy improvements vital for nursing homes

Despite diligent efforts by nursing homes during COVID-19 outbreaks, operators need help from policy makers to ensure better levels of care during future infection control emergencies, researchers say.

Staffing levels may actually appear higher than normal during COVID outbreaks, but that belies increasingly intense staff-time needs, as well as the fact that worker levels generally do not recover after an outbreak, a veteran academic team of nursing home researchers found.

As a result, policy makers should consider steps such as creating centralized ‘strike’ teams to supply temporary staffing assistance, as some states did, and other measures to help lift providers when a crisis hits.