Embracing end-of-life choices: A journey with Grandma
By
Steven Littlehale
Feb 02, 2024
At the beginning of the year, my grandmother found herself in an acute-care hospital, addressing blood clots in her legs and lungs. Having just recovered from COVID-19 at the age of 100, uncertainty loomed...
Hopeful aging: Does it exist?
By
Julie Thorson
Dec 07, 2023
As we grow older, does our capacity to be hopeful diminish? Turning 50 this year opened many doors for me. Turning 40 seemed confusing and somewhat depressing. Looking back, I wasn’t ready to accept...
The underappreciated bartenders of long-term care
By
Gary Tetz
Mar 21, 2024
Before you think poorly of me, let me explain. I was in the bar that afternoon only because I had heard such great things about the nachos. Not buying it? How about this: I was conducting an in-person...
Need a fresh survey strategy? CMS lays out 3
By
Kimberly Marselas
Dec 05, 2023
CMS officials have delivered an early gift to help providers like you map out where they should focus their compliance efforts — not just for 2024, but for 2025 as well.
The federal Medicaid bait and switch
By
Stephen A. Moses
Nov 06, 2023
It was supposed to work like this. When people need long-term care, they pay privately until they’re impoverished. Then and only then Medicaid helps. To avoid that outcome, people were urged to save...
A table on the patio
By
Gary Tetz
Sep 07, 2023
Through countless decades, multiple relationships and what feels like dozens of marriages (actually only two, but it’s still early today), this is pretty much the extent of my accrued knowledge: Women...
Whose life is it anyway?
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Sep 21, 2023
My family is full of therapists, and most of us work in skilled nursing. My sister, an experienced speech language pathologist, called to commiserate about one of her patients who had difficulty swallowing. ...
How I found purpose in hospice nursing
By
Patty Husted
Nov 03, 2023
After working for more than 30 years in the field of hospice nursing – exploring roles across specialties, including patient services, operations and management – I can confidently say that hospice...
Nutritional interventions: Reducing hospital readmissions among skilled nursing residents
By
Phyllis Famularo
Oct 18, 2023
In recent years, many skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have experienced a shift in focus toward shorter-term, higher-acuity, and more medically complex residents. These older adults typically have a higher...
Decrease costs and boost morale by fostering a culture that prioritizes infection prevention and control
By
Buffy Lloyd-Krejci, DrPH, CIC
Aug 07, 2023
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, infection prevention and control (IPC) in long-term care facilities was usually relegated to the sidelines. If it was focused on at all, IPC often fell squarely on...