Video footage of elder abuse at Nightingale Nursing home
Shocking video footage taken by one of the elderly resident's son has revealed a serious case of elder abuse at one of Singapore's 60 nursing homes. Nightingale nursing home, has since shot to infamy after footage of the abuse was released by the media.
The home has been suspended from admitting more patients until further notice and 2 nurses were punished, and 1 has quit. All are foreign nurses.
Nurses working in nursing homes here are mostly foreigners. Singaporean nurses are less willing to give up their jobs in acute hospitals for fear of losing their skills as the job in homes entails mainly bedside nursing. There are pros and cons to hiring foreign nurses to take care of the elderly in Singapore. Pros being they usually are more committed to provide long-term care in their profession, and require a lower pay. But one major disadvantage is the language barrier, which often results in miscommunication, or lack of cooperation.
It is indeed stressful to be taking care of several residents at once, and some elderly may be abusive towards nurses too, such as refusing to take medication, or even spitting on them. In such cases, retaliation abuse is still not justified, as nurses are the appointed caregivers, and the elderly do not have an equal standing with them in terms of health and strength.
Therefore, to prevent such incidents from happening again in future, it is also very important to take care of nurses' well-being and mental state, and to put in place proper ways for them to give feedback or share their feelings.
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