Angie's Blog

HealthCap® USA

Angie Szumlinski, NHA, RN-BC, RAC-CT and BS

Director of Risk Management

Angie SzumlinskiMs. Szumlinski is a nationally-recognized leader in long-term care with experience as an Owner/Provider, Administrator, Director of Nursing, Corporate Quality Assurance Coordinator and independent consultant. Ms. Szumlinski conducts risk management visits at facilities across the country, touching every acuity level within the post-acute care spectrum. Ms. Szumlinski served as an Associated Board Member for NCAL, is a member of the AHCA/NCAL Quality Committee, NCAL Risk Management Committee, HCAM Legal/Clinical Committee and is a Senior Examiner/Team Leader for the AHCA/NCAL Quality Award Program. Ms. Szumlinski is a Nurse Planner for the HealthCap® ANCC accredited education program.

Therapist helping patient walk

Gait & Hearing Loss – More Loss Than We Thought

Angie Szumlinski Health, Studies

In a recent publication of the Annals of Long Term Care, a research study regarding the impact of gait disturbances and hearing loss on predicting 6-month mortality in geriatric patients post-cardiac event was discussed. The study identified that while the traditional mortality risk factors remained important, the functional impairment measures resulted in significantly improved mortality risk prediction. This study can …

Close up of clear water and bubbles

Have a Drink!

Angie Szumlinski Health

A recent study published in the Age and Ageing journal/British Geriatrics Society identified that dehydration is associated with significant adverse outcomes in older people despite being largely preventable and treatable. The study identified four themes that are discussed in the full article; however, it should cause us to take a moment to think about our seniors. How often do you …

"Be prepared" written on blocks

Influenza Pandemic Checklist – ASPR TRACIE

Angie Szumlinski Health

ASPR TRACIE is a healthcare preparedness information gateway that provides access to information and resources to assist providers in improving their individual emergency response plans. The most recent addition to the toolkit published online is the “Influenza Pandemic Checklist”. This tool is intended to assist health care providers and their partners in assessing their preparedness for an influenza pandemic. It …

Image of pills

Frailty – Fact or Fiction

Angie Szumlinski Health, Studies

Many scholarly articles have been written regarding the incidence of frailty in the geriatric population and the negative outcomes related to frailty. In the post-acute care sector, we have just recently embraced the frailty idea and are working with different organizations, software companies, and assessment tools to assist in determining the level of frailty in our residents. A recent study …

File Folder marked Standards

NCAL's message about Argentum's National Standards Initiative

Peter Feeney Compliance, Legal, News

HealthCap® worked with AHCA/NCAL last fall to analyze what Argentum’s push for developing ANSI standards would mean for the industry. We found that national standards would be redundant to state licensing oversight and accompanying standards, which would confuse and complicate compliance. Furthermore, two sets of standards would fuel even more litigation, as trial attorneys will be able to hand-pick between …

Podcast: Ep. 8 – Ransomware and Cyber Attacks in Senior Living

Peter Feeney Podcast

Listening to the news it seems that cyber-attacks are becoming more and more common. Is the Senior Living Community being targeted? What do hackers want? In today’s podcast, Peter and Angie talk with James Gutierrez, Director of IT at HealthCap. Listen to hear what you should do and how you can mitigate damage if you are attacked.

C-Diff in Human Intestine

C-Diff – What’s the Diff?

Angie Szumlinski Health

The dreaded C-Diff infection! We all cringe when we hear those words right? We also struggle to know what is considered best practice today as the recommendations periodically change. So think about this, what if that new admission who develops C-Diff 3 months later was actually the cause of the infection? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if we could …

Caretaker Burnout

Nurses Sleep Deprivation

Angie Szumlinski Health

In a recently published article in Science News, nurses don’t sleep enough, period. Per the article, nurses sleep nearly an hour and a half less before workdays which can impact patient care. It has long been known that shift work can impact sleep cycles and overall quality of life. Nurses tend to work odd shifts, 12-hour shifts, double shifts, etc. …

Delirium typed on paper

Delirium and Your Residents

Angie Szumlinski Health

In a recent article published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, postoperative delirium in older adults continues to challenge the medical profession. As caregivers, we often miss the signs of delirium in our residents unless there has been a significant event such as surgery. It is important to remember that delirium can occur without a major event …

Flu Season Caution Signs

Flu and You!

Angie Szumlinski Health

Scenario: Scheduled risk assessment visit at assisted living center; call from Executive Director “We are dropping like flies, can we reschedule?” Yep, the dreaded flu has hit with a vengeance! Per the CDC more than 1,300 people have already died from conditions worsened by the flu so far this season and there have been at least 2.6 million flu illnesses …