Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, skilled-nursing facilities have focused – rightly so – almost entirely on infection control and maintaining the health and safety of residents and staff. These facilities acted quickly to restrict visitor access and limit resident activities. With these actions, however, came increased loneliness, depression and isolation for elderly residents.…
Managing any organization on a day-to-day basis can present an array of challenges, and those challenges magnify in the face of a crisis, especially in a long-term care setting. A leader’s effectiveness in the face of a crisis is largely dependent on the facility’s strengths in four key resources: the organization’s architecture, operational processes, its…
Containing the spread of infection has always been a top priority in long-term care. COVID-19 simply increased awareness of the need for strict adherence to prevailing protocols, as well as new guidelines issued by various agencies. One aspect of federal and state guidance that should be a strong focus for all types of senior living…
While electronic health records systems are ubiquitous in primary, acute and specialty care settings, long-term care facilities are still lagging in adoption. The biggest reason for the disparity in adoption is that LTPACs weren’t eligible to participate in Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs to adopt electronic health records. But it’s critical that LTPACs be able…
As we reexamine safety protocols to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care, one building system getting a closer look is ventilation. Some LTC facilities managers now realize that the air filtration systems in their buildings do not adequately remove pathogens. Installed filters typically have a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, or MERV, of…
After two years spent developing and launching a service to assist prescribers and long-term care pharmacies complete controlled substance orders using a mobile device, I was surprised to hear the response, “We cannot use this. Faxed orders are banned or about to be banned.” Wait, what? Faxing is a technology that dates to the 1800s. After…
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the most challenging year in the history of the senior living industry. Health and safety has been the main focus of leaders as they grapple with the deadly rate of virus infections and its impact on the lives of millions of older adults, staff and their…
In skilled nursing facilities, there is a high demand for data that can be leveraged to improve clinical and financial outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the idea that caregivers’ time is precious and best spent with patients rather than on added distractions or administrative responsibilities. The need to work smarter, not harder, has turned…
Nursing home staff, administrators and frontline caregivers have worked tirelessly to prevent and manage the pandemic. Despite their heroic efforts, over 101,000 seniors and 750 employees had died of COVID-19 as of Dec. 1, 2020. COVID-19 is a wake-up call to the entire skilled nursing and LTC industry. Organizations must strategically and systematically rethink their…
In the early months of the pandemic, much of the research on COVID-19 focused on the manner in which the disease affected respiratory function, i.e., the capacity to breathe. Over the course of the last seven months, as more data has become available, it has become clear that COVID-19 adversely affects cognition (including capacity to…
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