As current generations get older and enter retirement, the thought of entering a nursing home can leave many with unsettled, mixed emotions. News stories frequently highlight poor treatment in senior living homes. When you are running one of these homes, it is important to focus much of your energy on the treatment of residents. With proper customer service, a nursing home can be a pleasant place for all involved.

Things You Will Need

  • Suitable employees

  • Suggestion box

Hire employees suitable for working in a nursing home. Not everyone has the appropriate personality type for this kind of job. Employees need to be empathetic and polite to the residents. Even for peripheral jobs such as cooking and custodial staff, it is vital to choose workers who enjoy being around older adults.

Provide a suggestion box for your residents. If they have any gripes about how they are being treated, they can air their grievances with you. Since many nursing home residents have diminished eyesight, provide large-print suggestion sheets with the box.

Train your employees at the start of employment. Some people have a tendency to treat older adults as if they are children or babies, even if they mean well. Make sure that your residents are treated with respect, dignity and a pleasant manner.

Provide regular meetings and workshops for your employees. If you see negative trends in the way your residents are being treated, address these issues in the workshops. Provide role-playing situations where people can act out scenarios to learn more about how to better treat the nursing home residents.

Listen to the complaints of your residents. Some employees, no matter what profession, will act differently when they are not around the boss. If you are hearing that someone on your staff is mistreating the nursing home residents, take it seriously. If they need to be terminated, you can always hire someone new.

Tip

Due to various illnesses and life stages, some nursing home residents may be tougher to manage because of their attitude. Assign experienced employees to these residents to ensure they still receive the best care.