Post-pandemic population may require higher staffing levels
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
May 25, 2021
Before the pandemic, residents were admitted for rehabilitation following elective surgery or a health crisis. The rehab residents either returned home or joined the group of long-term residents who had...
Managing staff anxiety in the time of COVID-19
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Mar 25, 2020
Personal, workplace and organizational strategies are going to help us all get through this current coronavirus crisis (and others).
Strategies to improve workforce participation
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Feb 22, 2022
These short-term strategies from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine could improve workforce participation.
What’s all this about PBJ?
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Aug 30, 2016
Why are they keeping track of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I appreciate their concern that residents might have our lunches served late, but what about the tuna fish sandwiches? And the chicken?...
Bridging the disconnect between leaders and workers
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Apr 05, 2022
As I reviewed the many recent long-term care happenings and articles to select a topic for this week’s blog, my mind kept returning to the fascinating column by researchers Lindsey Creapeau and Jennifer...
Clinical considerations when the census is low
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Aug 25, 2020
A low census caused by things like the pandemic can lead to the challenge of balancing the urgency of filling the beds with the risks of admitting residents that the team is clinically unable to manage.
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...
Foster relationships to improve staff retention
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Jul 20, 2021
“God bless you,” an aide said to me the other day after I handed her a container of homemade green bean salad. She’d joined the same psychology-based weight loss program I was using and the green...
Contending with employees’ pandemic-related stress
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Oct 06, 2020
Be sure to include inadequate emotional support of staff around pandemic-related stresses to the long list of failures regarding lack of investment in long-term care staff.
Meeting behavioral health needs begins with stable staffing
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Jun 18, 2019
The first step in the process of addressing the behavioral health needs of nursing home residents is to improve staff retention.