When the pandemic pummeled the nursing home workforce, nursing homes lost more jobs than any other healthcare setting. This loss compounded the staffing shortage facilities were already confronting, leaving many facility leaders physically and emotionally exhausted and desperate for solutions to solve this problem. The good news is that all …
Among the many decisions directors of nursing services (DNSs) make during their day, some of the most challenging involve regulatory requirements the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued. DNSs may find themselves asking questions such as, “Must an instance of abuse be reported during the QAPI meeting?” …
On June 29, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released updates to the surveyor guidance in Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual. Highlights of the updates can be found in the AAPACN article “Appendix PP Revisions in the State Operations Manual: Breaking Down Key Changes,” which …
On June 29, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released updates to the surveyor guidance in Appendix PP of the State Operations Manual. Some are minor technical updates, while others introduce entirely new guidance. Given the enormity of the updates, along with the other challenges facility leaders …
While most skilled nursing facility (SNF) leaders are aware of QAPI and have executed a QAPI plan, many view QAPI itself as nebulous, abstract, or vague. This lack of clarity complicates QAPI execution. This, in turn, encumbers QAPI’s potential to prompt continuous improvement. In the environment of value-based care, SNFs …
Resident harm is every nurse’s nightmare. Four years ago, a nurse administered the wrong medication to a patient, which resulted in the patient’s death. RaDonda Vaught was recently criminally convicted of negligent homicide and neglect of an impaired adult. Although the defense argued that the error was a result of …
Since the start of the pandemic, the healthcare system has experienced significant job losses, but in recent months, all sectors have slowly begun to recover—except for nursing homes and assisted living communities (AHCA, 2021). Despite record employee departures, there are nursing home staff who have stayed throughout the pandemic, as …
Imagine sitting in a quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) meeting while different team members take turns reporting count data or the number of occurrences of an issue in the month. For example, the director of nursing services (DNS) might share two residents had unplanned weight changes, 10 falls happened, …
Causes and Contributing Factors of DNS Turnover The 2021 AAPACN survey found that 37% of DNS respondents changed their job in the last 12 months, and 40% intend to change their job within the next 12 months. In general, common reasons people cite for voluntarily leaving their position include: Limited …
It’s the New Year, and that means it’s time to set goals. These are often lofty aspirations to achieve amazing feats, like transforming into a sleek powerhouse of muscle reflecting the epitome of health. However, if history repeats itself, by February, convenient vending machine snacks will have infiltrated the low-sugar …
