HCPro.com: Briefings on Long-Term Care

September 2008 (Volume 16, Issue 9)	view entire issue

Preparing for baby boomers
Take a look at today's nursing home and think about how you'd want it to look if you were staying there. Would it look the same as it does now? Preparing for baby boomers means a big physical and environmental change for nursing homes. "We haven't done a lot of talking about [preparing for baby boomers]. We're still busy taking care of our elder patients that we've got now, and everyone is talking about that group, but when you think of the baby boomers coming in, they're different," says Cathleen A. Bergeron, RN, MSHA, CDONA/LTC, Massachusetts chapter president of the National Association Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care.

Implement a successful discharge planning process
Discharge planning can be a confusing process, with details that can often be overlooked. Case managers are typically responsible for the discharge planning process while patients are in a long-term acute care hospital (LTACH) because they are involved with the patient's insurance. In long-term care, this is the social worker's responsibility. On top of all the social worker's responsibilities, discharge planning is still an important aspect of resident care.

Implement critical thinking in your facility
When looking to develop a critical-thinking process in a facility, it's best to start with the basics. "Critical thinking has been around for a couple of decades, but applying it in healthcare is something we've been looking at pretty closely for the last 10 years," says Carole R. Eldridge, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, dean at St. John's College of Nursing and Health Sciences of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO.

Capturing referral opportunities: How to avoid letting money fall through the cracks
Generating referrals can sometimes seem like an arduous task. However, one of the simplest things you can do to keep beds occupied in your facility is to answer the phone. "People in healthcare have not been taught how to recognize and capture an opportunity," says Lou Burgess, president of Front Line Advantage in Scottsdale, AZ. "Opportunity does not knock once; it knocks all the time, but we don't recognize the sound." Healthcare is a need-driven business, and it is training staff members how to handle moments of need that most often determines their success, Burgess says.

Other recently-published articles from Briefings on Long-Term Care:

Avoid the ‘dirty little secret’ inside healthcare

Minimize mistakes when responding to the media

Dealing with the challenge of medical identity theft

Project management pointers to develop staff leaders

Receive financial backing: What you need to take out a loan

Embracing change: How to make a big shift in culture

Capturing referral opportunities: How to avoid letting money fall through the cracks

Implement critical thinking in your facility

Implement a successful discharge planning process

Preparing for baby boomers

Will your facility earn a five-star rating?

Installing proper sprinkler systems in your facility

CMS announces changes to two F-tags

MedPAC proposes SNF PPS changes for 2009

Are you taking advantage of the QM/QI trend reports?

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