‘Corona Tomb’ nursing hospital doubles death rate in general hospitals even before the pandemic

58 patients died at Hyoplus Nursing Hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, where a group infection of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) occurred on the 11th of last month. About half of the inpatients (124) died. According to the Central Defense Countermeasure Headquarters on the 25th, corona 19 infection occurred in 72 nursing hospitals nationwide over the past year, killing 343 people. With 25.2% of the total Corona 19 deaths (1,360), it became the most death site.

How did the nursing hospital become’the grave of Corona 19′? The number of nursing hospitals increased from 690 in 2008 to 1584 (as of June) last year, but the quality is not consistent. Because of this, the mortality rate was high even before Corona 19. According to a report submitted by the Seoul National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation (Professor Kim Yun Medical Management) to the Health Insurance Corporation last month, the mortality rate of nursing hospitals (22%) was general acute hospitals (11%), nursing homes (12%), and local communities such as home care. Higher than (12%). The research team traced the route of movement of 160,000 elderly people who were first admitted to a nursing hospital in 2015 or applied for long-term care services from 2016 to 2017. Professor Kim Yoon said, “If one in five people die after being admitted to a nursing hospital, it means that there is a serious problem with the quality of service.”

‘Few medical personnel, fixed number per day, Chinese caregivers, super multi-person rooms… .’ It is a characteristic of a nursing hospital. What they have in common is the lowest cost. It is unclear whether it is a hospital or a care center. A nurse who responded to an interview with the thesis interviewed for the thesis’Experience of a nursing hospital nurse’s moral distress of a nurse in a nursing hospital’ (Dept. of Nursing at Hanyang University, Professor Jeong-ah Kim) published in the journal of the Korean Society for Nursing Education in May, said, Everyone in the family knows that when they come in, they die and leave. But why does physical therapy with injections without meaning?”

Kim Geun-hong (Professor of Social Welfare Department at Gangnam University) said, “The trend of children’s avoidance of parenting is spreading, but the care system cannot support them. He said, “The situation in the nursing hospital was foretold.” If you leave it like this, everyone will remain a victim.” Cho Yong-soo, a professor of emergency medicine at Chonnam National University Hospital, pointed out that “the family avoids the hassle and hassle of caring for the elderly, while reducing remorse, the hospital earns a fixed income with minimal investment, and the government does not touch the welfare of the elderly and blows his nose.” did.

40% are rented at shopping centers and are vulnerable to group infection

A, in her mid-80s, fell at home in 2018. After being diagnosed with a fracture at a general hospital, he was treated for about a month before moving to a nursing hospital. The children did not try to take care of them, so I moved to two nursing hospitals. As I was lying down, my muscle strength fell and I started wearing a diaper, and died early last year after suffering from bedsores and pneumonia. One child said, “I would have lived a little longer if I took care of it at home. I couldn’t do my best,” he said.

Hyoplus Nursing Hospital has 24 people, Goyang Smile Morning Nursing Hospital has 20 people, and Sunchang Nursing Hospital has 14 people. The patients in the worst condition were collected. According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (Shimpyeongwon) on the 25th, of the 250,000 nursing hospital beds, 10 or more occupied 10,9696 (8%), of which 8938 occupied 14 or more. Both the patients and caregivers in the 20-person room at the Smile Morning Care Hospital were infected. Deok-Hyun Son, chairman of the Korea Nursing Hospital Association, said, “If you want to manage severely ill patients with a small number of personnel, you need to get into the glance. However, there is no separate number of intensive care units.”

There are also constant criticisms that nursing hospitals overuse sleeping pills. When Shim Pyeong-won compared the average of the top 100 hospitals using hypnotic sedatives last year, the number of prescription drugs per patient in nursing hospitals was 134, more than five times that of general hospitals with 30 to 99 beds (24). Another nurse who responded to an interview in the Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Education said, “I want to take a break during the night shift, so I have to pretend I didn’t see it. “There are reasons for using drugs or suppression bands.” Chairman Deok-Hyun Son said, “Patients with dementia who scream or do not sleep at night have no choice but to use medicine. If you don’t want to use this, you have to have a single caregiver in a single room.”

A nurse who responded to an interview published in November 2019 in the journal of the Korean Academy of Basic Nursing (‘Experience of adaptation of a nursing hospital nurse who left an acute hospital’ by Professor Hyung-Sook Park of the Department of Nursing at Pusan ​​National University) said, “The doctor is old and is from anesthesiology. I didn’t know. I judged, prescribed and treated it,” he testified. Another nurse said, “If a wheelchair breaks down, it doesn’t fix it for more than a month.” According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 40% of nursing hospitals use some floors in shopping malls or office buildings. Vulnerable to infection and fire.

“Need to improve the quality of care by increasing investment”

General hospitals receive a fee for each medical practice, but nursing hospitals replace it with a fixed daily fee. Chairman Son said, “The biggest problem with nursing hospitals is the private care system and the number of fixed amounts.” If you don’t want to lose money, you have no choice but to reduce the cost as much as possible.” Nursing hospitals reduce costs by responding with minimal and under-represented treatments that do not exceed the fixed amount.

Seok Jae-eun, a professor of social welfare at Hallym University, said, “We are caring for the elderly too cheaply compared to developed countries. He said, “We need to invest more money in nursing hospitals to raise the overall level of manpower, etc.,” he said.

Welfare reporter Shin Seong-sik, reporter Chae Hye-sun [email protected]