The Michigan Medical Directors Association: Bringing Stakeholders Together to Improve Quality of Care
The Michigan Medical Directors Association (MIMDA) was established in the 1990s. Physicians, advanced practice professionals, physical therapists, practice managers, officers of state councils, facility administrators, speech therapists, and psychologists are welcomed as members. Its mission is dedicated to excellence in patient care and providing education, advocacy, information, and professional development to promote the delivery of quality long-term care medicine. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Cheryl Huckins Tags: AMDA in the States Source Type: news
Sex and Dementia in the Nursing Home: Balancing Resident Rights with Resident Safety
Can a nursing home resident with dementia consent to being sexually intimate with others? It depends. The competing interests — respecting resident rights while protecting vulnerable residents from abuse — are nuanced and complex. As illustrated below, even expert physicians can disagree in a particular case. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Alan C. Horowitz Tags: Legal Issues Source Type: news
Celebrating the Emergence of Sexuality
Living in a communal environment such as a nursing home or assisted living community is often accompanied by new experiences, possibly including a sense of being cared for the first time in one ’s life or at least in a very long time. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Paige Hector, Sarah Peyton Tags: Communication and Culture Source Type: news
Intimacy and Dementia: An Ethical Approach to Risk-Based Decision-Making
Intimacy occurring in the context of dementia has the potential to negatively impact not only those directly involved but also those who care for them. Nowhere are the stakes higher than in residential communities where individuals with cognitive impairment are concentrated in a congregate living situation with frequent opportunities for interaction. Long-term care communities must simultaneously balance resident safety and autonomy, address the concerns of nonresident spouses and family members, and strive to avoid potentially serious legal and regulatory ramifications related to the issue of consent. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Elaine Healy Tags: Medical Ethics Source Type: news
Improving Care and Health Outcomes Among LGBTQ+ Older Adults
The U.S. population is growing and becoming increasingly diverse. Currently, there are more than 3 million LGBTQ+ adults over age 50 in America, and this population is expected to reach 7 million by the year 2030 ( “Facts on LBGT Aging,” SAGE, National Resource Center on LGBT Aging, March 2021, http://bit.ly/43RxZ22). (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Alicia Graf Source Type: news
Understanding Home Dialysis in Nursing Homes and Updated Guidance
Home dialysis presents an exciting opportunity for nursing homes to potentially increase census, expand on-site services, and lower operating costs while simultaneously improving residents ’ quality of life and quality of care. Home dialysis is the process of individuals receiving dialysis treatments in their homes as opposed to at an end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facility. In a nursing home, this could refer to receiving the dialysis treatments in the resident’s room or in a com munal dialysis den by working with an experienced ESRD provider. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Janet Feldkamp, Nicholas Adamson Tags: Legal Issues Source Type: news
Does Specialization Impact Harmful Medication Prescribing?
Providers who specialize in nursing home care are equally as likely as nonspecialists to prescribe potentially harmful medications to individuals who have Alzheimer ’s disease and related dementias, a retrospective cohort study found. However, specialists are more likely to prescribe these medications for a shorter length of time. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeffrey S. Eisenberg Tags: Journal Highlights Source Type: news
Staffing Instability and Turnover Associated With Nursing Home Quality
Staffing instability is weakly correlated with staffing turnover in nursing homes, but each is independently associated with nursing home quality, a cross-sectional study found. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeffrey S. Eisenberg Tags: Journal Highlights Source Type: news
Hospital Discharge to Nursing Homes and Antibiotic Use
Individuals discharged from hospitals to nursing homes while still using antibiotics have a greater risk of developing other medical complications, wrote Nonso Osakwe, MD, MPH, of Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, NY. Fifteen percent of those residents are likely to be hospitalized within 30 days, often due to inadequate management of their antibiotic plan of care. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeffrey S. Eisenberg Tags: Journal Highlights Source Type: news
Making Space for Love Stories at Every Age
I recently read Alice Munro ’s short story, “The Bear Came Over the Mountain,” about a married couple in their 70s navigating sexuality and love after the wife, Fiona, develops dementia and enters a nursing home. Here, Fiona begins an intimate friendship with a wheelchair-bound man named Aubrey while her husband, Grant, reminisces about a series of affairs he had during their marriage. After grappling with his discomfort over Fiona and Aubrey’s friendship, Grant has a change of heart when Fiona’s health begins to decline after Aubrey’s wife takes him out of the nursing home. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Tess Bird Tags: Caring Collaborative Source Type: news
Mark Your Calendar
August 3-4/11, 2023 (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Source Type: news
Inappropriate Sexual Behavior, Dementia, and Possible Nonpharmacological and Medication Interventions
Expression of sexual needs and fulfilment of those emotions may become more challenging as we age and transition into new stages of life. The subject of sexual expression and intimacy in post-acute and long-term care communities and the residents ’ rights to pursue consenting relationships are acknowledged as an area requiring guidance for residents, families, and staff. The residents have increasingly asserted their right to pursue sexual relationships, and they have advocated for receiving appropriate assistance. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - August 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Robert Accetta Tags: LTC Pharmacy Source Type: news
A Geriatrician ’s Perspective on an Aging Joe Biden
For almost 40 years I practiced internal and geriatric medicine in my own office and in emergency departments, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, rehabilitation units, and long-term care communities. This means that I have had thousands of face-to-face interactions with folks from all walks of life: I ’ve observed them, diagnosed and treated their conditions, and monitored their medical journeys over years, even decades. I have spent a lifetime paying attention to people’s medical needs. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - June 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Jerald Winakur Tags: Meditations on Geriatric Medicine Source Type: news
Assisted Living: New Initiatives, Brighter Future
Assisted living (AL) has now surpassed nursing homes in terms of the number of long-term care residents who reside there (J Am Med Dir Assoc 2022;23:225 –234). Yet as this has happened — and as the comorbidities, frailty, and need for activities of daily living assistance in AL residents have increased — the amount of staffing and medical care in AL communities has not risen proportionally. This issue is fairly well-known among health care pro fessionals but has not been significantly addressed. Could now be the time? (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - June 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Daniel Haimowitz Source Type: news
Reducing Falls by Upgrading Lighting in Nursing Homes
Reference: Grant LK, St Hilaire MA, Heller JP, Heller RA, Lockley SW, Rahman SA. Impact of Upgraded Lighting on Falls in Care Home Residents. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2022;23:1698 –1704.e2. (Source: Caring for the Ages)
Source: Caring for the Ages - June 1, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Omid Salaami Tags: Pragmatic Research Source Type: news
