For my first 20-plus years as a long-term care psychologist, I arrived on the job wearing not just clothes, but outfits. I chose garb that contributed to the sense of “expertness, attractiveness, and...
Vaccination nation
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Aug 11, 2021
Last week an insurance adjuster came over to scope out some storm damage. Anyone who enters my home must be vaccinated or wear a mask (I keep clean masks at the front door. I’m nice like that). If...
How SNFs are cutting costs without cutting back on care
By
Betsy Rust
Jun 29, 2018
As if managing the health of patients wasn’t difficult and time-consuming enough, skilled nursing facilities now have to do more to manage their increasingly complex businesses as well.
Long-term care heroes needed to help critical blood supply shortage
By
Teri Sumbry
Mar 10, 2018
Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood, but this year a massive nationwide shortage is putting lives at risk. In response to this dire situation, the nation’s long-term care...
We’ve built it, but help isn’t coming fast enough
By
Brendan Williams
Mar 30, 2022
In the movie “Field of Dreams,” Karin Kinsella assures her father, Ray, that “people will come” to his farm’s baseball field as he faces foreclosure. Those of us who are long-term care advocates...
Skilled care, mental health focus needed to decrease hospitalizations
By
Gayle Morris
Jan 11, 2021
Preventing hospitalizations is as much a sign of good health in older adults as it is a way to maintain it. The burden of infection control, preventing skin breakdown, pneumonia — and the myriad other...
MDS data may hasten timely evacuations
By
Anna Fisher, Ph.D.
Sharon Metcalf, Ph.D.
Aug 06, 2015
It’s no surprise that natural disasters and man-caused emergencies disproportionately affect older adults.
Compassion fatigue – the struggle is real
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Jul 27, 2021
Not getting a vaccine isn’t just affecting you. It’s why we have this variant, and it’s why we all have to keep dealing with this. And it’s why nurses are burning out and getting compassion...
Is your facility prepared for returning families?
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Mar 02, 2021
If all goes well, over the next few weeks there will be an increasing number of family members visiting their loved ones in the nursing home, many for the first time in a year. Along with the joy and relief...
Why it’s impossible to maintain prior levels of care quality, and what to do about it
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Apr 24, 2018
Residents and their family members are likely to expect that when they enter long-term care, staff members will provide compassionate medical treatment. Instead, what they frequently find are stressed...