In “Keeping workers will be biggest struggle for nursing homes as pandemic persists, national policy expert predicts,” McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Staff Writer Danielle Brown reports on the staffing problems outlined by Harvard Medical School health care policy professor David Grabowski, Ph.D. He anticipates that, because of a lack of support, direct caregivers will leave … Read more
Recent calls1, 2, 3 for an increase in nursing staff levels may have providers wondering how to accomplish this. Under normal circumstances it can be challenging to find qualified individuals; the pandemic has added an off-putting level of danger to nursing home work. Two webinars hosted by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News last week offer clues … Read more
COVID-19 has negatively affected the ability of many long-term care facilities to maintain a full census. Less frequent elective surgeries, fewer rehab cases and more empty beds make it harder to be selective about which patients are admitted, impacting not just the financial case mix, but also the clinical mix. A low census leads to … Read more
In my role as a long-term care psychologist in New York City, I try to ensure that each of the residents on my caseload makes the most of the time they have left in life and that they have a “good” death when the time comes. Instead of their last years surrounded by love and … Read more
One of the best ways to make meaning from tragedy is to use the experience to help others. Below, staff members of New York City nursing homes hit early in the pandemic graciously offer their advice to teams across the country that might be anticipating or currently grappling with the pandemic. Advance planning Stay calm. … Read more
Last week I listened to a webinar on protecting residents of nursing homes from pandemics, hosted by STAT News and sponsored by AARP. The three medical experts on the call offered a multitude of recommendations, some of which will no doubt be familiar to long-term care leaders, while others may provide new avenues for thought … Read more
The severe impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes has led to calls for change in the country’s approach to eldercare. In “The American Nursing Home is a Design Failure,” for instance, author Justin Davidson describes the nursing home as a “soul-sapping institution” and argues that we need to rethink the current system entirely. In my … Read more
In the last few weeks, mass protests against racism have led to wider recognition of racial injustices in our country, with alterations in policing procedures, removal of Confederate statues and a rethinking of corporate norms. I’ve been reading about the systemic inequities in healthcare and reflecting on those in long-term care in particular. While I … Read more
The pandemic has caused many of us to reflect on our lives, work and priorities. It’s also led to catastrophic losses and to greater public awareness of problems in our field. In the mental health world, we encourage people to try to learn and grow from tragedy. I hope we in the long-term care world … Read more
I took off my PPE mid-day last week to have an interesting LinkedIn Live talk with Shmuel Septimus of The Nursing Home Podcast. We discussed mental health, the impact of Covid-19 on nursing facilities, the need for LTC leaders to garner community support for their beleaguered staff members and why I like my job so … Read more