I am having a hard time getting my licensed staff to be open to the idea of updating their skills. Any ideas?
The day-to-day tasks of nursing in long-term care leaves our nurses fatigued. Often, they have more than one job, and families to go home to and care for.
Since I also do some legal work as an expert witness, I often stress the importance of accuracy in their care, as well as efficient but comprehensive charting. I remind them that they must protect their patients and their license.
Many facilities offer internal educational options, but I also encourage nurses to seek outside seminars and workshops that suit their practice.
Nurses must make some time in their day for the scheduled in-services that will help them be the best they can be in their practice.
There is not much information out there to help me to oversee the care of this younger population, specifically those under 40 years of age. Do you any helpful resources?
Many of us feel the same as you. The real challenge of my day-to-day leadership is “trying to manage” the needs of our younger population. They bring with them more dynamic family issues as well as personal issues, such as behavioral concerns.
Having a social worker who will partner with you in managing behaviors and perhaps educational and vocational needs helps tremendously.
Staff members need additional in-servicing on addictions, including alcoholism, goal setting, handling difficult behaviors, anger management, depression and more. The population’s lives have been interrupted, for whatever reason, and placed in your facility for care. Their care management requires much more involvement by the resident and more creativity from the healthcare team.
From the September 01, 2007 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
