“I’m sorry, Rita, I can’t breathe,” I said when she paused for a moment in recounting her story. “I have to go blow my nose.” “Yes, I can hear that. It’s okay,” she said, reassuringly. In the many months I’d been seeing her, this type of interruption had never before occurred. Her movements painfully crippled … Read more
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) chose the theme of “Fulfilling the Promise” for National Nursing Home Week May 8-14, 2011. According to the AHCA planning guide, part of this Promise is a focus on the whole person. Psychologists help fulfill this Promise every day, by addressing the emotional aspects of illness in addition to … Read more
When I worked in the psychiatric hospital, the focus of treatment was on the mental health of the patients. Physical complaints were usually thought of as an expression of mental illness and not reflective of an actual medical problem. We once sent a patient down to the tiny sub-basement medical clinic after she injured her … Read more
“My aide treats me like I’m an idiot,” Katrina typed to me on her talking computer. “What do you mean?” “She thinks I don’t know what’s going on!” Her eyes radiated her emotional pain. “She’s a bitch!” A series of strokes had stolen Katrina’s ability to speak, leaving her a silent observer of her surroundings … Read more
Part Three of a Three Part Series (Part One — The International Center for Long-Term Care Innovation Part Two — Signature HealthCARE: Great Ideas in Practice) I recently interviewed Jeff A. Beaty, D.H.Ed., LMSW, QDCP, SSBB, Chief Development Officer for Signature HealthCARE, about the role of psychology at Signature. I was pleased to hear that … Read more
Dear Researchers, I’ve been a nursing home psychologist for the last 14 years, and, while there are many fascinating areas to be studied in the field of geropsychology, I’m writing to you with the hope that we’ll see more research on the medical cost offset of psychological services. One type of study could look at … Read more
A recent article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News (September 2010) caught my eye: Attitude appears to affect healing process for wounds. The article cites a research study in the August issue of Dermatologia that found patients who were less depressed had wounds that healed faster. It also found slower healing in those who had “confrontational” … Read more
In 1967, psychiatrists Holmes and Rahe created a scale that measures the stress levels of various life events, and found that people with stress levels over 300 are at high risk of illness. I’ve always considered a nursing home stay to be a very stressful experience, but applying the scale was illuminating. I took the … Read more
I wrote a guest post for McKnight’s Long Term Care News addressing how psychologists can help nursing home residents and when a referral for treatment might be appropriate. “The recent Illinois legal decision to move mentally ill nursing home residents into smaller mental health settings is likely to prompt an industry-wide examination of the practice … Read more
Now that I know I’m not going against State regulations (see Dr. El Goes Undercover with the NYS Department of Health), I’ll confess I love to use my iPhone with the residents. In nursing homes that don’t yet have computer access, the iPhone and other web-enabled mobile devices bring the world right to the residents. … Read more