Nursing home abuse stories: Do they have any lasting benefit?

Yet another sensational nursing home abuse story made headlines last week. A journalist posing undercover as a volunteer wrote a diary of alleged abuse of nursing home residents in two metropolitan aged care homes.

Shocking nursing home stories are nothing new. We've all heard stories of nursing homes being horrible smelly places where people go to die. The diary account of neglect and the attitude of a minority of care staff was clearly disturbing and unacceptable.

Unfortunately I have come across overworked and bitter nurses working in aged care who obviously should be somewhere else. They don't make great role models.

But I have also come across aged care staff who despite the daily challenges continue to provide exceptional care. When stories like this appear in the media they can be extremely damaging. They can slowly erode the morale of nurses that do care deeply for residents in their care.

The image of aged care nursing can also be seriously undermined by horror stories. Attracting dynamic intelligent nurses into the aged care system is really difficult. Shocking nursing home stories make great headlines but they can also force compassionate intelligent nurses to walk elsewhere. 

The media need to probe more deeply into what is a growing crisis in aged care, but not to the detriment of the many aged care providers and nursing staff that are doing a great job. Investigations can't create real change from within. Nurses who can set a good example, inspire and lead others certainly can.