Head, shoulders, curbs and elbows
In our post-acute world if we depend on basics alone, we limit ourselves in the specificity of measures we can achieve.
ADLs
If I fell
A group of very fine long-term care people and I just spent the last 10 days in Nicaragua. I’ll blog about why we went in a future installment, but first need to share the most important lesson learned on the trip.
Another way to capture ADLs
The conventional wisdom for improving Activities for Daily Living is to educate and re-educate and then educate again.
Residents suffer and die as interventions go unused
When providers consider the challenges residents face, it’s usually within the context of activity of daily living limits. Things like trouble with walking, dressing, bathing and eating tend to be top of mind. With mental conditions, Alzheimer’s considerations dominate. But a phenomenon that fuels both physical and mental decline often flies under the radar.
Slouching toward nursing home admission
Here’s a little medical news that made me sit up straight: People with really bad posture are much more likely to eventually need help with activities of daily living (ADL), according to research published in the Journals of Gerontology.
Incorrect ADL coding is common and costly, expert says
Improper coding related to activities of daily living is common, causing providers to lose significant Medicare reimbursements, a coding expert said during a McKnight’s Super Tuesday webcast. “The biggest coding error I find is undercoding,” said Mary-Beth Newell, RN, vice president of clinical reimbursement at Post Acute Consulting. “Undercoding is much more prevalent than overcoding.”
Accurate ADL coding the focus of April 16 Super Tuesday webcast
Coding Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) remains an important challenge in the long-term care setting. Part of the challenge is that there are so many employees who contribute to the documentation. Also, the terminology can be confusing. Another big misstep can occur when staff members underestimate how much they assist the patient. This session, led by Mary Beth Newell, addresses why accurate coding is taking on growing importance. It also offers tips that will help ensure the most accurate coding possible. A Q&A session closes the broadcast, which originally aired at 1 p.m. (Eastern) on April 16.
Mars, Venus and coping with ADL loss
It’s not going to hurt to remind your staff that residents may tend to deal with their declining health differently. And new research illustrates very well how. This knowledge is going to help guide staff-resident interactions in ways that maximize empathy and communication.
Hearthstone awarded top Transitions prize in McKnight’s Technology Awards
By adopting a wireless daily living documentation tool, Hearthstone Health Center lowered its hospital readmission rates by 5.5%. That earned Hearthstone the Gold Award in the Transitions category of the McKnight’s Technology Awards — Connect Our World.
Seniors are accepting of robotic assistance, survey shows
Seniors are generally receptive to the idea of caregiving robots, though they prefer assistance from humans for certain tasks, a new survey finds.
