Background: The emergence of the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019 caused a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, raising many questions for the scientific community and researchers. The infection ranges from asymptomatic to fatal clinical course mainly...
Assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity in nursing home (NH) residents is limited by data requirements and lack of specialty staff, equipment, or resident ability. The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is a clinical assessment of...
Malnutrition is a global health problem in older adults, underestimated in health care settings. SNAQ is a validated, reliable tool to identify older people at high risk of malnutrition. SNAQ ≤ 14 indicates reduced appetite and >5% weight loss in...
People living in long term care (LTC) are at particularly high risk for the adverse effects of social isolation and loneliness due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Involvement in the arts is an important method for maintaining quality of life. Additionally...
Tamiflu is widely used for prophylaxis for influenza in long term care (LTC). Prophylaxis for all residents in LTC experiencing an outbreak regardless of vaccination status is recommended by the CDC. Creatinine Clearance (CrCl) is preferred for...
Inappropriate polypharmacy is dangerous and disproportionately affects older adults. An estimated 40% of Americans over 65 years old take 5 or more medications and adverse drug events lead to 1.3 million emergency departments within the United...
Prior to the pandemic, telemedicine was not well adopted in nursing facilities in the United States and was nearly non-existent in Hawaii. Many nursing facilities have since acknowledged its value due to the need for stricter infection control...
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) affects many residents in nursing facilities (NF), and sliding scale insulin (SSI) is commonly prescribed even though it is not recommended by the American Diabetes Association, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care...
Hospice services provided to residents of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC) facilities are associated with higher resident and family satisfaction and lower health care cost. One barrier to timely hospice enrollment is limited understanding of...
Person-centered care (PCC) is a philosophy that recognizes “knowing the person” and honoring individual preferences. However, obtaining the knowledge and communicating important preferences across staff is challenging in NHs. The Preferences for...
