There is evidence that residents are vulnerable to harmful medication errors during transitions from hospital to long-term-care (LTC). Common lapses in communication, documentation and transcription have led to poor coordination of care. Focused on...
Infections including CAUTI are a leading cause of illness and death in Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCFs). Although the prevalence of indwelling urinary catheter use in LTCFs is lower than in acute care settings, CAUTI can lead to complications such...
Many skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents require International Normalized Ratio (INR) monitoring. Nurses often report INRs after-hours, congesting phone lines with non-urgent calls, preventing urgent calls from being addressed expediently. This...
Many barriers to optimal palliative care in long term care (LTC) homes have been identified, including a lack of knowledge, workload demands, and a failure to identify impending death and implement a timely end-of-life care plan. Unfortunately,...
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common pathologic arrhythmia, affecting 6% of the population above the age of 65. Anticoagulation therapy is recommended as first line for AF. Optimal management of anticoagulation therapy in long term care (LTC...
Nearly four million people in the U.S. are homebound without adequate access to office-based primary care. Provider home visits can improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. In response to a growing need to see geriatric patients in the home, a...
One of the recent initiatives in geriatric medicine has been the push to decrease the usage of antipsychotics for treating dementia with behaviors in favor of non-pharmacologic interventions. We identified a high prevalence of antipsychotic usage in...
Accurate communication of medical information is a vital step to providing quality care. Transitioning patient care between siloed institutions such as hospitals and nursing facilities (SNF) brings many challenges. Inaccurate or incomplete discharge...
In 2014, the medical cost to manage fall related injuries was over $30 Billion. The Geriatric population falls more frequently than the other age groups, more than 2 million falls per year approximately. For elderly, a fall is a potential cause for...
The percentage of short-stay residents who are discharged successfully to the community and the percentage that are re-hospitalized after a nursing home admission are Medicare quality measures. Re-hospitalization rates from skilled nursing...
