2023 is approaching being one month old. How well did your facility and staff meet the challenges of this month. Are they excited for the upcoming changes of The Skilled Nursing initiatives that up being rolled out this year?
This is an exciting time for our industry. We are in the position of learning new ways to ensure our elders are receiving the care that they deserve at this stage of their lives.
President Biden’s initiatives have all of us examining how we deliver care. Please see briefing below:
These initiative are forcing nursing homes to:
Review staffing levels.
Reduce resident room crowding of 3 or more residents sharing a room.
Reinforce the establishment of safeguards to reduce unneccessary drugs and treatments.
To attain higher quality measures to be eligible to qualify for incentive funding under the Skilled Nursing facility value-base program.
This briefing from the White House brings many different feelings among Long term care staff. It is difficult to read that some providers may not be doing all that they can or should be doing to promote the best care for our elders.
The Public Health Emergency has lasted longer than we all have expected it to which has zapped some energy out of us. The added attention on our industry is a blessing but may also be bringing up some unpleasantness,
What do I mean by that? I have worked in long term care since 1989 and have always been proud of my career choice. The public has been flooded with news of how our elders are not being provided with the care they may deserve. Now when I tell people what I do and where I work it doesn’t always bring the best reaction. Now I hear about what they perceive is happening in nursing homes based on the Media presentation and President Biden’s initiative. I often hear how can you work in a nursing home and why are residents still getting covid.
How can you as a Staff member working in long term care continue to show up everyday and continue to choose this career path?
I offer this advice and again this is my advice and not based on any direct legal or regulatory advice.
First be proud of your career choice and know your value as a care provider.
Take this time to educate the public of what we do if you encounter someone who is trying to make you question your path.
Remember you are in control of how you feel. If the public says something that they believe is true because they read it or someone told them that this is happening at your place or employment , it doesn’t mean it really is. Only you who is working in realtime can tell with absolute certianity if you are delivering quality care. Now if you are not then this is a chance to examine your own work ethic and make the necessary changes to learn what you need to do to deliver quality care.
Life is about seasons. Hard times seem the hardest in the winter. Easier in the Spring, Summer and Fall. Winter brings less energy but it doesn’t need to. This is a time when you and your staff can focus on developing action plans to meet the initiatives set for us. It is a time to regenerate and create new beginnings. Springtime will bring higher growth of your staff with the new action plans developed this winter. Summertime will be when plans will continue to be tested with Fall being a time of reaping all the benefits of your hard work.
Focus on reviewing residents medications and treatments to ensure they all are necessary and prescribed based on their active medical comorbidities.
Review your quality measures and identify patterns that may be contributing to negative outcomes.
Review your staffing patterns and identify ways to empower your staff to voice their ideas to help you meet the minimum staffing patterns. They may be job sharing or flexible schedules. Review roles that you have existing staff in. Meet with each staff member one on one and together with your employee identify strength and weakness and potential avenues of growth. You may identify that staff would be better suited in a different role.
Remember that the Public Health Emergency will not last forever. History has proven that. This is a time to use our energy and continue to show up and care for our elders. I am very excited to continue on this path and grateful for the educational opportunities that are available to help with this journey.
Please reach out if you or your facility would like my service to infuse some new energy. I would love to provide a free consultation. If interested, please send a message to maria.messina@skillednursingsupport.com
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