Brief training for LTC nurses leads to 6 months of reduced psychotropics use
By
Alicia Lasek
Oct 26, 2021
Wards with trained nurses showed a significant reduction in psychotropic drug use and drug costs. Maintenance strategies may be needed, however, as the improvements had waned by 12 months, researchers...
LTC nurses who remain on the job are burned out, concerned for residents: news report
Oct 25, 2021
Staff shortages and work overload are taking a heavy toll, long-term care nurses and clinical administrators tell a news outlet in Maine. “We’re trying to make things work as best we can, but...
Indecision: Sinking ships and endangering lives
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 20, 2021
Will Congress continue to turn a deaf ear to the nursing home crisis if residents are dying for want of stability, if hospitals are backed up and unable to discharge patients for lack of admitting facilities?
Providers’ best chances in federal budget talks lie with funding for infection prevention, staffing:...
By
James M. Berklan
Oct 13, 2021
OXON HILL, MD — Long-term care interests are clearly down the priority line in federal budget negotiators, one of the industry’s top lobbyists noted Tuesday, but several key topics also have earned...
Take advantage of PDPM before it’s too late: experts
By
Danielle Brown
Oct 11, 2021
With the future of the Patient Driven Payment Model, at least as it’s currently constructed, up in the air, now is the time for providers to ensure they are accurately capturing resident needs and acuity...
As antipsychotic use appears to backslide among nursing home residents, risks mount
By
Kimberly Marselas
Oct 11, 2021
For more than a decade, patient advocates and federal regulators have called for a reduction in nursing homes’ use of antipsychotic medications, a class of drugs once widely associated with controlling...
Merck to seek emergency use for COVID-19 antiviral pill that cuts severe outcomes by 50 percent
By
Alicia Lasek
Oct 04, 2021
Molnupiravir has reduced COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations by half in a new clinical trial. An orally delivered drug could offer unprecedented treatment convenience, the drug’s developers say.
Nursing home staff vaccinations get a boost thanks to New York mandate; delta ups jabs nationwide
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 29, 2021
By midnight of its Monday deadline, New York state saw vaccination rates rise to 92% among nursing home and hospital workers, according to a new report.
COVID-19 antiviral drug trials expected to wrap up within months: report
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 27, 2021
Clinical trials for new COVID-19 antiviral drugs are expected to wrap up by winter, sparking hopes that a daily pill to treat COVID-19 infection is closer to fruition, according to a new report.
WHO: Antibody treatment most beneficial for seniors, the unvaccinated, and immunocompromised
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 27, 2021
The World Health Organization’s new guidance for using the REGEN-COV monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19 covers a narrower group of patients than those included in the FDA’s updated...