Ask the care expert … about antibiotic stewardship
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Jun 05, 2015
According to SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) antibiotic stewardship refers to “a set of coordinated strategies to improve the use of antimicrobial medications with the goal...
Ask the care expert .. about drug diversion
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Apr 06, 2015
Early identification of diversion and abuse benefits everyone involved. However, don’t jump to conclusions before you are sure of the actions that are making you uncomfortable.
Ask the care expert .. about silverware to help with tremors
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Mar 04, 2015
Do you know of silverware to assist residents who may have Parkinson’s or tremors while eating? We have weighted bulky silverware, but it seems to add to the shaking.
Ask the care expert … about tube feeding practices
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Feb 01, 2015
No matter how often we train our nurses on tube feedings, we still are seeing increases of aspiration pneumonia. Is there something we may be missing during training?
Ask the care expert … about smartphone apps
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Jan 01, 2015
Do you know of any smartphone apps we should look at to improve the quality of life for our residents and nursing staff?
Ask the care expert … about top deficiencies
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Dec 01, 2014
We’re hoping to prep our facilities for quality-improvement efforts. Is there a list of the top deficiencies?
Ask the care expert … about documenting falls
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Nov 01, 2014
If a nurse’s aide is in a room when a resident begins to fall, and lowers her to the ground, we are NOT counting those on our count for falls. Are we correct?
Ask the care expert … about end-of-life wound care
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Oct 01, 2014
I work on a floor in a skilled care facility where most residents are on hospice or at the end of life. Some have wounds that will never heal. How should we care for these?
Ask the care expert … about pressure ulcer prevalence
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Sep 01, 2014
I am a new charge nurse. My DON wants me to calculate the prevalence of pressure ulcers. Is there an easy way to do this?
Ask the pain expert … about evaluating pain
By
Sherrie Dornberger
Aug 01, 2014
We use the numeric pain scale in our skilled care facility, but many of our residents can’t communicate well. Is there another suggestion?