Topics About 'Long Term Care'.

What do you see if you close your eyes and imagine the nursing care provided in long-term care nursing facilities? Do you picture a dark and dingy workplace with older adults lined up in beds, quietly waiting for the end of life? Or, maybe you pictur...

This year, we got a double whammy: at the same time we were under siege by the norovirus, a nasty little upper-respiratory specimen arrived on the scene that promptly attacked those who hadn't yet contracted the double-ender. So whoever wasn't puking...

Burnout is a work-related stress syndrome resulting from chronic exposure to job stress, and healthcare is a leader in work-related stresses. In Long Term Care (LTC), long before the pandemic, nurses were burned out; the pandemic just magnified the a...

The long term care industry (a.k.a. nursing home industry) employs a large share of new and experienced nurses in the United States. Furthermore, the number of nurses who secure employment in this specialty is projected to increase in the next ten ye...

What happens when your parents get older and can no longer care for themselves? What happens if a catastrophic event occurs? They fall, break a hip and can't go back to their previous living arrangement? Yikes! What do you do? Okay, so you have decid...

It all started with the guy in room 156, who pulled the oldest trick in the book and still got a newish nurse to buy it. We've had an epidemic of respiratory infections in the building lately, so everyone who's got issues has to wear a mask outside t...

There are no guarantees in life. No one came into this world with a guarantee of perfect health and ability until the moment we die. Diseases will happen, accidents will happen; and when they do, we can become disabled to the point that we need someo...

Talking to your loved ones about long-term care can be a complex topic to approach. It is natural to feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed when discussing this subject; however, having an honest conversation is essential to ensuring that your loved ones ...

Our local pharmacy supplied all of our residents with their medication and the pharmacist was a grouchy man, who hated anything to do with our nursing home. The pharmacist had a bad habit of only labeling mediation with the resident's last name and f...

Short staffing in nursing homes due to cost-cutting decisions, nurses retiring due to age, or the added stresses of COVID-19, along with increases in patient caseload and complexity have played a pivotal part in the short-staffing crisis. The results...

Admitting a loved one to long-term care is often a difficult decision. The past few months or years have been a struggle. There have been numerous trips and admissions to the hospital. The aging adult, family, and healthcare team have made the decisi...

So this morning as I was enthroned upon the seat of wisdom, trying to decide what I was going to do with these precious 48 hours of weekend and instead thinking about work, it occurred to me that each area of nursing has its own language.....a specia...

I worked as a floor nurse and supervisor in long term care (a.k.a. LTC, nursing homes, or aged care) on and off for six years. Last year I wrote two articles that placed a mostly positive spin on working in the LTC industry. This year I will attempt ...

The purpose of this article is to address concerns related to the time frame allowed to administer the medications at skilled nursing facilities and the number of medication errors, especially ‘wrong time’ errors due to the apparently impossible task...

Nurses and Direct care workers (DCW), such as certified nursing assistants (CNA) or nursing assistance (NA), provide most care in a long-term care facility. They regularly assist the patients with medication administration, wound care, toileting, bat...

It is as if being a nurse is an admirable thing that one should be proud of unless you are a LTC nurse, in which case, you are not a "real nurse" because you don't work in a hospital. Many times, not knowing what to say, they will simply reply, "I co...

Has anyone been in a situation where they get attached to a resident? I took care of this resident for 3 years I went above and beyond, I’d get her her favorite books, and bring in her favorite snacks, she’d always come to me whenever she needed any...

The earliest U.S. coronavirus deaths occurred in late February when residents at a Seattle nursing home began falling ill. Since then, the virus has spread like wildfire through the nation’s nursing homes. On Sunday, April 19th, ABC News reported at ...