A provider client once said to me, “I don’t understand all this ‘statistical gobbledygook.’ Tell me why I should care and how I can actually use this.” It was a valid request.
Essential steps for treating those with COPD
By
John W. Walsh
Mar 05, 2014
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive, presently incurable respiratory illness that is characterized by airflow obstruction. For long-term care professionals, knowledge about every...
Celebrating poise and positivity in chaos
By
Gary Tetz
Jan 12, 2023
At the end of a long shift on Christmas Eve, two CNAs are chatting in the facility parking lot. “Rough day,” says one. “A family member yelled at me about problems I can’t solve and things that...
Let there not be light
By
Gary Tetz
Nov 17, 2022
It’s the first command in the Biblical creation story — let there be light. But if you’re working a night shift in a long-term care facility, I need you to stop reading this right now and go turn...
We need a careforce, not just a workforce
By
Lori Porter
Apr 18, 2022
CNAs, as the largest contingent of staff members in nursing homes, should be known as a careforce, a term seized on recently by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
I0020B coding: The right message at the right time
By
Renee Kinder
Feb 11, 2021
Ever receive the exact right message at the right time? It happened to me last night at 9:21 p.m. EST. A simple email of thanks and kindness landed in my inbox. A thanks, really at that time undeserved,...
Would you rather have snakes?
By
Gary Tetz
May 31, 2018
You might think you have problems in your long-term care facility. But ask yourself just one question: Would I rather have snakes?
Use caution in antipsychotics reduction
By
G. Allen Power, M.D.
Sep 22, 2014
It is true that I began speaking out about the misuse of antipsychotics drugs long before they came to national attention. But as I applaud the efforts of our providers and regulators around this important...
Stuff I’ve done for residents as a long-term care shrink
By
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D.
Dec 31, 2013
Many of us in long-term care think of our jobs as a calling. We handle the day-to-day tasks and the business as usual but also get a lot of energy and joy out of taking our work one step further. Here...
Why do we do some of this ‘stuff’?
By
Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC
Feb 15, 2012
We do a lot of “stuff” in nursing that makes no sense (both in acute care and long-term care — I’m not singling us out here). We do a lot of things that waste precious time and are...