Long-Term Care Survey Alert
MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR VISION-IMPAIRED RESIDENTS
Vision impairment and blindness reduce the quality of life for many nursing home residents, but new research could help improve care for this population. Published in the August 2002 issue of Quality of Life Research, two University of Alabama researchers studied how to perfect a proposed visual-targeted health-related quality of life measurement. The study's purpose was to establish core content areas for the HRQOL instrument. Conducting in-depth interviews with 40 residents, the two researchers audiotaped, transcribed, and coded comments about vision problems; they also assessed binocular distance and near visual acuity in order to test the measurement capabilities of HRQOL. The 1,070 vision-related comments were grouped into 13 categories, including ocular symptoms (18 percent of comments), reading (15 percent), general vision (13 percent), psychological distress (12 percent) and daily living activities (7 percent). Compared to published material on vision-specific areas, the new study found that nursing homes residents focused more on ocular symptoms and basic living activities, and didn't mention issues related to driving, home care, and financing. Because the comments made by those with "good" and "poor" vision didn't differ between categories, the study concluded that a one vision-specific HRQOL instrument would do the job for measuring vision quality.
Long-Term Care Survey Alert
- Survey Management:
LESSONS LEARNED FROM A SURPRISE IJ CITATION
Waterman Village in Mt. Dora, FL had no idea what was coming last September when [...] - Quality Initiative:
PILOT QUALITY INITIATIVE A STEADY RIDE FOR MOST FACILITIES
If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' pilot Nursing Home Quality Initiative is any [...] - Quality Measures:
CMS SELECTS QUALITY MEASURES FOR NATIONAL REPORTING
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has selected chronic and post-acute quality measures for [...] - Quality Initiative:
FACILITIES GET TO PREVIEW QM SCORES BEFORE CMS POSTS THEM
While the national Nursing Home Quality Initiative has been pushed back until after the November [...] - Quality Assurance:
CMS CONTINUES QUEST FOR VALID QUALITY MEASURES
Wanted: quality measures that truly tell if a nursing facility is providing good care. The [...] - Resident Safety:
DONT LET BED SIDE RAILS BE A FAST TRACK TO DECERTIFICATION
How do surveyors view bed side rails?
As immediate jeopardy if a resident suffers a [...] - Risk Management:
JCAHO PROVIDES 6 STRATEGIES TO ENSURE BED SIDE RAIL SAFETY
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations released a sentinel event alert on Sept. [...] - Infection Control:
CMS TRAINING MAY PAVE WAY TO CRACKDOWN ON VACCINATION SHORTFALLS
Where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' training efforts go, survey citations often follow. [...] - LTC Financing:
ADD-ON DROP COULD SINK SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES, STUDY SAYS
Unless Congress acts fast, temporary Medicare payment add-ons that were first given to skilled nursing [...] - Quality Oversight:
CMS DIRECTS STATES ON HOW TO SPEND CIVIL MONETARY PENALTIES
Ever wonder what states do with the civil monetary penalties they collect from facilities for [...] - Quality of Life:
MEASURING QUALITY OF LIFE FOR VISION-IMPAIRED RESIDENTS
Vision impairment and blindness reduce the quality of life for many nursing home residents, but [...] - Alzheimers Disease:
RESEARCHERS DISCOVER POSSIBLE NEW TARGET FOR ALZHEIMERS TREATMENT
What's in an enzyme? Perhaps a new target for the battle against Alzheimer's disease. Researchers [...] - Side Rail Safety Assessment
