While staffing shortages have plagued the long-term care industry for quite some time, the coronavirus pandemic has certainly shone a spotlight on the issue and worsened it. At the start of...
Taking control back
By
Matt Salmon
Oct 19, 2021
I think it’s important that we recognize the impact COVID has had on our staff — and in some cases, recognize the damage it has done. Our staff are experiencing dissatisfaction and disconnection at...
Long-term care’s problems are bad and getting worse — but fixable
By
Stephen A. Moses
Oct 01, 2021
The long-term care business is hurting: labor shortages, wage pressures, vax mandates, too much Medicaid, too little private pay, value-based reimbursement, MedPAC vs. Medicare and so on and on. What should...
Advice from a recovering pessimist
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 30, 2021
Who am I to be giving advice? I have no proficiency in PDPM, MDS, CQI, RUGs, ISNPs or any other intimidating or indecipherable acronym. No one is begging me for my thoughts on staffing or infection control....
We need staff… NOW
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Sep 28, 2021
Last year, as the pandemic raged in New York City and sirens filled the air, a group of young travel nurses arrived to assist weary long-term care teams. They took over nursing stations that had been depleted...
When the fog lifts
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 16, 2021
I fancy myself a brave and intrepid hiker, and a couple weeks ago chose a particularly daunting trail that was rumored to lead to some of the best possible views of Mount Hood, the 11,249-foot peak that...
Reducing the impact of cascading collective trauma in LTC
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Sep 14, 2021
I spent most of last weekend doing what I could to avoid the 9/11-related headlines in the news. With my Manhattan-below-14th-Street recollections of the event, last year’s immersion in the pandemic...
Life safety alert: Storage is prohibited in the means of egress
By
Stan Szpytek
Sep 13, 2021
As a Life Safety Consultant working directly with LTC providers around the country as well as with many state healthcare associations, I need to start this piece by being blunt and will get straight to...
How to keep working in LTC (when you’re not sure how much more you can take)
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Aug 31, 2021
When I speak to long-term care groups, whether to those in leadership positions or to direct care staff, it’s clear that virtually all the audience members have been drawn to the industry because of...
As the editors of the June 2021 volume of The Gerontologist put it, “Workforce issues are the most significant challenges facing the long-term care industry.” This special edition of the journal...