Caretaker Burnout

Moral Distress During Pandemic

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

Disasters, including global pandemics such as COVID-19, disrupt standard care and present ethical challenges. Planning helps us prepare for disasters, but it can’t eliminate the ethical dilemmas and moral distress that clinicians face. Staffing, supply shortages and patient surges require nurses and other healthcare providers to make decisions that may not align with standard care but are necessary under the …

Watch What You Say

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

Take a look at this interesting article from Managed Health Care Connect titled “Commonly Heard, Commonly Said: Catchphrases That Hurt Long-Term Care Practice and How to Address the Issues They Imply”. It talks about some common phrases and terms we use in Long-Term Care that could potentially be problematic, and provides some terminology and language alternatives to these common phrases.

How Can You Lower Loss Rates Per Bed?

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

LTC Facilities with ANCC Board Certified RNs Experience Lower Loss Rates Per Bed   According to an analysis conducted by one of the nation’s leading long term care liability insurers, assisted living and skilled nursing centers with at least one RN board certified in gerontological nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) experience a lower loss rate per bed …

Multidimensional Approach Reduces Anti-psychotic Use in Nursing Homes

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

More Great News! National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes: Anti-psychotic Medication Use Data Report (July 2017) The National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes is committed to improving the quality of care for individuals with dementia living in nursing homes. The National Partnership has a mission to deliver health care that is person-centered, comprehensive and …

Bariatric Residents and Skin Care

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) in collaboration with Creighton University Health Sciences Continuing Education, recently hosted a webinar on Considerations for Bariatric Patients in Pressure Injuries and Wound Care. This program focused on the “how” and “why” we do what we do when caring for residents with a diagnosis of obesity as their needs often differ. At the …

Exciting Collaboration

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

As we continue to soldier through the process of preventing unnecessary re-hospitalizations and nosocomial infections, AHCA/NCAL has partnered with Brown University’s Center for Gerontology to involve members in a proposed study that seeks to evaluate if enhanced environmental cleaning will reduce the rate of infection among patients in skilled nursing centers and ultimately reduce hospitalizations. AHCA has established a center …

Don’t Be Alarmed!

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

Have you ever visited a community only to be bombarded by noise, alarms sounding, call lights beeping and overhead paging? It can be very stressful can’t it? So, let’s talk about alarms and why we use them! I remember years ago, prior to the creation of tab alarms, etc. when we went to a store called “Radio Shack” and purchased …

We’ve Heard You!

Angie SzumlinskiUncategorized

We’ve Heard You! We are very excited to announce the return of HealthCap RMS! Why the change you ask? Because it isn’t “just a name”, it is who we are. Our team of consultants are here to serve the members of HealthCap so it is a natural fit! What does this mean to you, a valued member of the HealthCap …