Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Want to make an instantaneous improvement in how residents and staff enjoy life in your facility -- and also survey-proof yourself against residents' rights F tags?
 
You don't have to wait to make a major culture change or renovate your building to pull it off. "Small things can make a big difference in quality of life," says Megan Hannan, consultant/trainer for Milwaukee-based Action Pact, a company that works with nursing homes to improve care for elders. Below experts share some ideas:

1. Turn off the overhead paging system. This change can immediately improve the facility's ambiance and quality of life, says Paul Hollings, executive director for Neville Center at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA. His facility now only uses its intercom system for fire drills and "stat" pages. "Overhead paging systems can over stimulate residents with dementia and interrupt their naps and conversations," agrees Mary Lucero, NHA, president of Geriatric Resources Inc. in Radium Springs, NM.

2. Implement a resident volunteer program where residents can channel their own needs to care for others and find meaning in life. Residents who sign up for the program can read to or visit other residents, for example. One facility actually provided a training program to help residents learn how to visit or otherwise comfort other residents, reports Steven Littlehale, MSN, RN, chief clinical officer for LTCQ Inc. in Lexington, MA. "Seeing the satisfaction a resident derives from helping another is heartwarming," he says.

3. Treat residents as individuals and not as a set of symptoms or functional abilities. A change in language is important to promoting a culture that supports quality of life, says Hannan. For example, "the whole idea of 'feeders' and a 'feeding room' should be changed to 'residents who need assistance with eating,'" she says.

4. Place a great deal of emphasis on daily sensory pleasures, such as music, fresh air, baking bread and children laughing. "These can be enjoyed regardless of a person's cognitive levels," suggests William Painter, an activities therapist and activist in Boca Raton, FL. Include residents who are withdrawn at the level at which they feel comfortable participating. "Music is a life line for people with dementia and other kinds of brain injuries who can still sing even though they cannot communicate verbally," says Lucero.

5. Offer massage as a regular resident activity. "Residents can give each other a back rub, or people with moderate dementia can give a person with later stage dementia a hand rub with lotion," suggests Lucero. "Of course, you want to do the massaging in a controlled environment," she emphasizes, "but the need for touch is a part of normal human life."