“I’m too sick for therapy today.” “Come back later.” “Leave me alone.” If you’ve worked in long-term care (or hospitals or LTACHs or acute rehab hospitals), you’ve heard...
The value of therapy in the New World Order of PDPM
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Apr 10, 2019
Rationing care may benefit the facility’s bottom line in the short term, but will not generate positive outcomes and good will in the community. As I advise and sometimes lecture, we need to do the right...
Depression in dementia: How do you know?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Dec 22, 2017
Most of us have used or at least aware of the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire) scale for depression. Through a series of questions that are directly related to the DSM-IV criteria, a patient or caregiver...
Expect the unexpected
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Apr 26, 2021
It’s a beautiful spring day in April in Northeast Ohio, and there are four inches of snow on the ground. It’s covering the daffodils and the apple blossoms. This is not unusual nor unexpected,...
How to manage [People, Tragedies, Work, Reimbursement, Life]
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 21, 2019
What’s stressing you out today?
What’s the worst that could happen?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Jan 10, 2023
I got a board game for Christmas. It’s called The Worst Case Scenario, and requires the players to pull a card describing situations from discomfort to disaster and rate them from best to worst. Then...
Light duty or new job?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Oct 11, 2019
Remember “light duty,” when your certified nursing assistant or nurse gets hurt during a patient transfer and they disappear into an eternally deep black hole? What is the definition of light duty?...
Get to know the geriatric LGBTQ patient
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Jan 10, 2020
You know how sometimes you’re asked to speak on a subject with which you have years of experience? Then during your research you discover a wormhole that’s so much deeper and more concerning that you...
The skill behind skilled
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 31, 2018
So many times, we get questions about how to “skill” a resident. Is she skilled if she’s getting IVs? Is he skilled because he’s getting wound care? What about the resident whose...
Learning from design regrets
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 12, 2016
Last week, McKnight’s published a guest editorial by Michael Hass, “Five design decisions you’ll later regret.”