It’s Nurses Day — a day we celebrate all it means to be a nurse. This day gets me into deep thinking. Particularly about the core of a nurse and how sometimes — even if we don’t want it...
Capping staffing agency pay rates isn’t the answer
By
Eleanor Alvarez
Jan 26, 2022
The staffing crisis in skilled nursing and assisted living centers continues to be a dire situation. As healthcare workers leave the field in record numbers, these centers have found relief by leaning...
Back to before census
By
Steven Littlehale
Dec 10, 2021
One of my favorite lyrics from the musical “Ragtime” is “We can never go back to before.” The character Mother sings about no longer being a slave to societal expectations; she is confident, moving...
The good old days: When germs were good
By
Renee Kinder
Jul 31, 2020
My household smells like the inside of a swimming pool. Literally, only Clorox will do. Walls, floors, bathrooms, kitchen, even in the laundry. Everyone here has some piece of clothing that has suffered...
How will PBJ impact Five-Star staffing? Would you like one lump or two?
By
Steven Littlehale
Mar 30, 2018
We don’t know when, and we don’t know how, but when Payroll-Based Journal staffing data replaces the data currently being captured from CMS Form 671 for calculating Five-Star staffing, we are...
Traditions: Advancing our mission of compassionate care
By
Rafael J. Sciullo
Jun 14, 2017
For 40 years, Suncoast Hospice, a member of Empath Health, has been honored to be the sole community hospice provider in Pinellas County, FL.
Jumper cables and stethoscopes
By
Gary Tetz
Jul 14, 2016
After posing questions ever since the bitter childhood discovery that I would never be an astronaut or Bobby Orr, I finally got my answer this week. Why do I exist? To be the guy with jumper cables.
Top 10 nursing home strategies to avoid hospital admissions
By
Marge Mercury, RN, MS, CMCE
Oct 30, 2012
Hospitalizations of frail nursing home residents can result in higher costs, complications, and death. Fifteen percent of long-term nursing home residents are hospitalized in any given six-month period,...
After economic storm, new long-term care business strategies
By
Jeffrey Girardi, Dan Hermann and other contributors
Oct 26, 2010
Long-term care organizations are looking differently at their operations as a result of the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009.
Facility looks to culture change to enhance residents’ quality of life
By
William Thistleton and Jacqueline Warmuth
Aug 21, 2008
Charles T. Sitrin Health Care Center in New Hartford, NY, is transforming its community into a model of culture change, and will use the setting to study the effects of resident-centered care.