Gear up to fight superbugs this cold season — and year-round
By
Jennifer Leatherbarrow, RN, BSN
Nov 22, 2019
Another year is coming to an end, and with the cooler temperatures will come another cold and flu season. The timing could not be better to discuss the current overuse of antibiotics. Over half of...
Nutrition and dignity, served up on a yellow plate
By
Cynthia Skinner
Oct 25, 2019
The key to weight maintenance goes way beyond menu planning, assistive devices and encouragement. A holistic team approach is a must. There is no bigger problem in nursing homes than trying to maintain...
When celebrity obscures suffering
By
Brendan Williams
Sep 10, 2021
There is a poignant scene in the first episode of Spike Lee’s “NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½” on HBO in which New York Assembly Member Ron Kim breaks down recounting the efforts of former Governor Andrew...
Managing a bah humbug holiday season
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 15, 2020
By now many of us have viewed the viral video of residents gleefully shooting soft foam balls at laughing staff members dressed as reindeer dodging through a pine-tree “forest.” It’s the kind...
Just the facts? No way. Managing agitation and behaviors in dementia
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Mar 19, 2018
We need to better understand our dementia residents and learn how to enter their world to make them comfortable, maintain their dignity and improve the quality of their lives.
Shared governance: Why you need to empower your workforce and get out of the way
By
Martie Moore
Sep 21, 2019
Shared governance is a dynamic employee-leader partnership that promotes collaboration, shared decision making and accountability for improving quality of care, safety, and enhancing work life. Through...
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...
What isn’t being said
By
Julie Thorson
Mar 02, 2017
Disclaimer: This is not scientific. I can, however, tell you I believe this notion to be true based on the hundreds of leadership conversations I’ve had, or haven’t had.
New LTC resources from some of the best
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 06, 2016
Over the past year, I’ve been involved with several exciting long-term care-related projects that I can now tell you about. In the spirit of the season, I wanted to spread some good cheer with them,...
What a professional caregiver should never forget
By
Elaine C. Pereira
Oct 24, 2012
Never forget that every resident has a past, a story worth hearing if they could only tell it.