Please help! Increasing Census

belinda · Jul 10, 2000

I am a DON in LTC and believe me census is a true issue. I am very interested in it due to the bonus I get evey month depending on the census--ha ha. I have a policy implemented that before anyone can be sent to the hospital--I must be called prior to getting the order so that we can suggest to MD what we are capable of providing at the facility. A big part of not having residents sent to the hospital is education of the MD of facility capability.

our faciltiy has a candy jar at various places--like local ER--and we have never seen as many emergency admissions as what we have since the emergence of "the candy jar." We also have community things at the facility such as blood drives focus on health and blood pressure checks. The best marketing tool is good nursing care and that is good word of mouth--this is where the majority of our referrals come from. Your are 100% right in quick responses to concerns and what not. Another thing that I do is I try to talk with family members each time they come in. I acquire alot of info this way and can immediately respond to concerns. Instead of doing paperwork in my office I sit at the nurses station. I know it doesn't sound like much, but we have a very good responce to the administration not being in a office all the time. This is often mentioned in customer satisfaction surveys. Good luck

newangelofmercy · Jun 15, 2001

Just thought I would put my 2 cents in for what it is worth. I think keeping staff happy is key. For example nurses aids and nurses tend to vent and they do it in public My husband pointed this out to me in a resturaunt the other day. One of my STNA's had had a really rough night and was feeling really stressed over what we see as poor management inadequet staffing and poor behavior of stressed out employee's. Boy did I have egg on my face when my hubby pointed out that we were sitting in Bob Evans venting with our work badges still on indicating where we work and in what capacity. This is not good publicity and we have tried to correct the problem but it is wide spread one let me tell you. That said let me reiterate Keep staff happy and then if we cant keep our big fat mouths shut it could be a good thing.