Research published by RTI International points to significant job-related injuries suffered by certified nursing assistants (CNAs) working at nursing homes. These injuries include cuts, back injuries, human biting injuries, black eyes and many other issues.
The truth is, being a nursing home industry worker is not that easy, and it can be very dangerous. If you’ve been injured while working at a nursing home, make sure you understand your rights.
More information about nursing home injuries
Injuries from nursing home jobs are common. Approximately 65.8 percent of nursing home workers who reported suffering injuries said that they had been hurt multiple times within the 12 months preceding the study. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed said that their injuries were so severe that they needed to spend time away from work while recovering. Sixteen percent of those injured said that they needed to do light-duty tasks while recovering.
Although many nursing home workers get hurt due to being attacked, hit, punched or bitten by residents, lifting injuries — caused by lifting up residents — were some of the most common reasons for health issues among nursing home staff members. Oddly, the existence of equipment to assist with lifting didn’t seem to help prevent these injuries.Certain categories of CNAs at nursing homes had a higher chance of getting hurt. These “at-risk” individuals included:
- New CNA workers
- CNA workers who changed employment frequently
- Lower-paid CNA workers
- CNAs who had to work mandatory overtime
Were you hurt in your nursing home job?
It doesn’t matter what kind of work you did at a nursing home, if you were hurt while performing your job duties, you might be able to get money to pay for your medical care through workers’ compensation insurance. Most employees in New Jersey receive the benefit of workers’ compensation coverage.
A successfully navigated workers’ compensation claim can provide workers money to pay for medical care, rehabilitation therapy, job retraining, income replacement and more. However, due to time limitations that apply to all workers’ compensation claims, it’s vital that injured workers seek these benefits as soon as possible after they get hurt.