Blogs, Guest Columns, Things I Think and Living Leadership
Give these nurses a hand, really
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jul 23, 2013
The American Nurses Association recently revealed national standards for safe patient handling and mobility. I say, “Bravo!” And it’s about time.
Music a vital element in enhancing resident experience
By
Anthony Cirillo
Jul 22, 2013
Live entertainment can add to resident care and should be considered a priority. Running an effective entertainment program requires knowledge of the basics.
Amenities gone wild
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 18, 2013
Now and then, I agree to leave my safe, dark hole under the porch and interact face-to-face with actual residents of actual long-term care communities. I did this yesterday, wandering freely through an...
Time to look for solutions to funding aging services in new places
By
Jeff Petty
Jul 17, 2013
We have a problem with funding and the service delivery models in aging services. Both are broken, and both need to be addressed in any real solution is to be implemented. If the service delivery system...
MDS data quality: Things are not always as they seem
By
Steven Littlehale
Jul 15, 2013
Open up the hood and look at the engine. Does the data scrubbing module focus only on standard CMS coding and consistency checks and the “RUG” items, or is it more robust and emphasize clinical...
Preparing for success under the looming ICD-10 deadline
By
Damandeep Kochhar
Jul 12, 2013
The October 1, 2014 deadline for healthcare providers to change to ICD-10 coding ushers in the greatest medical coding enhancement in 30 years. The challenge to providers is not just how to seamlessly...
Reducing learned helplessness in LTC
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Jul 11, 2013
John O’Connor’s recent post on the pain/depression cycle raised some interesting points about depression in long-term care. Reducing learned helplessness that is often seen in depression is...
Balancing growth and repositioning for long-term success
By
Amy Castleberry
Jul 10, 2013
Repositioning buildings and service lines is done on a regular basis at Lutheran Life, ahead of a crisis in census or in reaction to new competition that forces action that may not be well thought out....
Caring means remembering the ‘who’
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jul 09, 2013
I have read two things that really got me thinking how it’s imperative we have to know “who” our residents are. Not by disease or condition, but by their history.
Strategies to create outcome assessments
By
James Lomastro
Jul 08, 2013
Leadership, governance, talent (people) services and safety programs supports efforts in performance improvement and outcome assessment. The purpose of the outcome assessment system is to increase value...