3 AM: How to Prevent After-Hours Calls for Pain Management
Dear Dr. Diane: I am a new medical director of a PALTC facility, and I am often called to write other physicians ’ pain scripts at all times of the night. My facility wants me to write the pain management policy and address this with the staff and clinicians. Do you have any advice on how I should approach this problem, and avoid getting called all times of the night? (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - March 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Diane Sanders-Cepeda Tags: Dear Dr. Diane Source Type: news
Assessing Pain Among Individuals Living With Dementia
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I received a telephone call from a caregiver in an assisted living facility with a request to restart quetiapine for a male resident living with severe dementia and type 2 diabetes mellitus. This resident had been successfully tapered off quetiapine nine months earlier. Although he had a history of psychotic symptoms and physical aggression, he had been both medically and behaviorally stable. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - March 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Elizabeth Galik Tags: Caring Collaborative Source Type: news
Mark Your Calendar
March 9-12, 2023 (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - March 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: news
The Wound Provider Checklist — A Guide to Assist in Quality PALTC Wound Care
Quality wound management is a persistent concern for providers, patients, and families across the post-acute and long-term care health care space. As a patient transitions through this continuum, wound management can become fragmented, which contributes to delayed wound healing, prolonged suffering, and increased health care expenditures. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - March 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Scott Bolhack, Jeanine Maguire, Vycki Nalls Source Type: news
Pain Management, CDC Guidelines, and CMS Requirements in the Era of the Opioid Crisis
Post-acute and long-term care providers employ many strategies to address the challenge of managing pain, including by treating pain according to current clinical practice guidelines, encouraging safety, and aiming for the best possible outcome for our patients and residents. In addition, providers must remain vigilant by following the regulations in the Requirements of Participation, State Operations Manual (SOM), Appendix PP, and the F tags such as F697 associated with pain management. And, to complicate matters, they must accomplish all this while considering the nuances related to insurance, step therapy, drug formular...
Source: Caring for the Ages - March 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Robert C. Accetta Tags: LTC Pharmacy Source Type: news
Take Two Jokes and Call Me in the Morning: The Power of Humor in Health Care
If you ’ve never laughed or shared a joke at work, you’re probably in the minority. While health care is serious business, there is still a place for humor, and sometimes it transforms someone’s mood, makes a difficult situation feel more positive, or just adds some lightness to a stressful workplace . (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Joanne Kaldy Source Type: news
My Experience Volunteering in a Nursing Home
This summer, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the A.G. Rhodes Nursing Home in Atlanta, GA. As a volunteer, my job was to take residents to the places they needed to be, help them out with simple tasks, and engage them in conversation and other social and mentally stimulating activities. I spent most of my time conversing with residents. I also took them outside to activities like music and horticulture therapy, and even to get their hair done. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Sarah Vohra Tags: We Are Paltc Source Type: news
What Are the Most Common Drug-Induced Movement Disorders?
Research is limited regarding the prevalence of drug-induced movement disorders in residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities. By contrast, there is extensive literature documenting that this population is typically at a higher risk for drug-induced movement disorders: both the median age of LTC residents and the increased use of pharmacological interventions contribute this risk. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Nicole Coniglio, Tana Whitt, Charissa Duffy Tags: Behavioral Health Source Type: news
The So Far Disappointing Story of Drugs for Dementia
Not a week goes by these days when I don ’t receive a call or an email from an old patient, friend, or family member with concerns about dementia. My mother has done this or that unusual thing or is exhibiting this or that bizarre behavior. Could she have dementia? How do I know for sure? What kind of tests should she have? What kind of doctor should she see? (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Jerald Winakur Tags: Meditations on Geriatric Medicine Source Type: news
Clearing Up Misconceptions About Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in Long-Term Care
Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) have been in clinical practice since the late 1960s. Yet there are still many misconceptions about scope of practice and the advanced practice provider (APP) role, particularly in post-acute and long-term care (PALTC). Three areas of frequent misconceptions include (1) initial admission visits, (2) legal risks, and (3) patient/resident satisfaction. Let ’s take an in-depth look. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Allison Villegas Source Type: news
In This Issue
Dental Care in Older Adults (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Source Type: news
Spotlight on Policy
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released a study report, “Long-Term Trends of Psychotropic Drug Use in Nursing Homes.” The study found that the Centers for Medicare& Medicaid Services (CMS) efforts since 2011 had reduced the use of antipsychotics among long-stay nursing home residents, but the prescribing of anticonvulsants had increased. This meant that overall psychotropic drug use remained relatively constant, with 80% of long-stay nursing home residents prescribed a psychotropic drug. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Source Type: news
Keynotes Just One Highlight of PALTC23
All the sessions at the AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine Annual Conference are informative and thought provoking, but the keynote addresses set the tone, provide an important touchstone mid-meeting, and end the program on a high note. Details are now available for the keynotes at PALTC23 in Tampa, FL, March 9–12, 2023: (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Tags: News From The Society Source Type: news
The Anti-Antipsychotics Crusade Appears to Have Flopped — Could They Be Coming After You?
For over half a century, medication management of behavior and psychiatric conditions (BPCs) in nursing home residents has been controversial. Over a decade ago, the Centers for Medicare& Medicaid Services launched a “National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes” (http://bit.ly/3ADBCwm) that included efforts to reduce the prescribing of antipsychotics. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Steven Levenson Tags: OBRA Regulations and Clinical Practice Source Type: news
Facilitating Better Sleep — and How It Might Prevent Cognitive Decline
Nonpharmacological approaches to insomnia require a high-priority, team approach in which staff and family are respectful of sleep and can help validate and facilitate sleep hygiene practices and environmental needs, long-term care providers told Caring for the Ages. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - December 28, 2022 Category: Health Management Authors: Christine Kilgore Source Type: news
