F 602 Freedom from Misappropriation and Exploitation

Angie SzumlinskiLegal, Medication, Training

§483.12 “Each resident has the right to be free from abuse, neglect, misappropriation of resident property and exploitation… [Another example of] misappropriation of resident property is the diversion of a resident’s medication(s), including, but not limited to, controlled substances for staff use or personal gain.” Opioid Stewardship Implication: Drug diversion constitutes misappropriation of resident property. As controlled substances, opioids are …

Maintaining Accurate Medication Lists

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, Training

Accurate medication lists are difficult to maintain especially when a resident is admitted and discharged several times. It seems that each physician treating a patient has their own idea on what medications work best and which should be discontinued. At the end of the day, nurses are faced with the challenge of determining what is really current and what has …

Advance Care Planning Coverage

Angie SzumlinskiCompliance, Training

In 2016 Medicare launched a much-anticipated advance care planning (ACP) benefit that pays physicians to counsel patients about living wills, advance directives, and end-of-life care options. During the ACP process clinicians can help patients determine the type of care they would want in a medical crisis or at the end of life and reassure them that their preferences will be …

AHRQ – Measuring Safety

Angie SzumlinskiStudies, Training

Care home settings, such as nursing homes or residential care homes, present unique challenges to patient safety. This systematic review published by the National Library of Medicine identified several gaps in the available safety measures used for quality monitoring and improvement in older adult care homes, including patient experience (i.e., quality of life or other resident-reported indicators of safety, psychological …

CDC Training for HealthCare Professionals

Angie SzumlinskiTraining

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated their website to include educational sessions through TRAIN, self-paced, online courses, webinars, and other varied formats. The home page lists educational opportunities for a multitude of subject matter including: TRAIN – cross-cutting topics Vaccinations Clinical Care and Infection Control Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) Emergency Preparedness and Response Contact …

$237M – Nursing Home Action Network

Angie SzumlinskiAnnouncements, Featured, Training

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of HHS, is partnering with the University of New Mexico’s ECHO Institute in Albuquerque and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Boston to establish the network, which will provide free training and mentorship to nursing homes across the U.S. The project ECHO, or Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, includes more …

Care Staff During COVID-19 – ECHO

Angie SzumlinskiTraining

Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) is a virtual, capacity-building education program with the capability to provide rapid, real-time dissemination of best practices. Developed in 2003 at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Project ECHO develops Communities of Practice using a Hub-and-Spoke model of knowledge dissemination and collaborative learning. It exchanges knowledge between interprofessional teams of specialists …

CDC Point of Care Test Reporting Webinar

Angie SzumlinskiFeatured, Training

Late this week, the Centers for Disease Control are offering a webinar on Point of Care Test Reporting Trainings. There are two session times participants can choose from. The first option is February 11, 2021 at 2pm and the second is February 12, 2021 at 1pm. Both sessions will have identical content and allow time for questions and answers. The …

Information Sharing Practices

Angie SzumlinskiStudies, Training

Patient transitions from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) require robust information sharing. After a decade of investment in health information technology infrastructure and new incentives to promote hospital-SNF coordination in the U.S., the current state of information sharing is unknown. A recent study was conducted to determine the quality of communication and sharing between the two settings. U.S. SNFs …