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 May 9-15 is National Nursing Home Week! Sponsored by the American Health Care Association (AHCA), the week is designated as an opportunity to celebrate nursing and rehabilitation facilities nationwide. The theme of this year's celebration is "Enriching Every Day." According to AHCA, "This year's theme cannot be expressed by words alone; it takes being there – seeing and hearing life around you – to appreciate how 'enriching' happens in a long-term care setting, from nursing homes to post-acute care to assisted living facilities."
AHCA has posted suggested celebratory activities on their website. We'd also love to hear how your facility is celebrating. If you have a Facebook account, please visit www.facebook.com/promedsupply and tell us all about it!
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We just redesigned our blog, Growing Together in Health Care, and want to know what you think! We're giving away a ProMed baseball cap and a $10 gift card to McDonald's to five people who share their thoughts with us. You'll just need a Facebook account to participate.
Here's what you need to do:
1. Visit our newly redesigned blog at promedsupply.blogspot.com
2. Then head over to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/promedsupply
3. Click the button to "Like" ProMed, and then leave us a comment telling us what you like or dislike about the new blog design.
The first five people to leave comments will win! We'll contact you via Facebook to obtain your mailing address.
(Note: ProMed employees are not eligible for this contest.)
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A new report from the CDC - based on data from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey - found that a large number of the events that send nursing home residents to the emergency department (ED) are preventable. The report identified conditions and resident characteristics that nursing homes and policymakers might consider targeting to reduce preventable ED visits.
According to the report, 8 percent of U.S. nursing home residents had an ED visit in the past 90 days. Of those residents, 40 percent had potentially preventable ED visits. The number one potentially preventable reason that nursing home residents visited the ED? Injuries from falls.
Here's the breakdown of conditions that accounted for potentially preventable ED visits:
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- 36%: Injuries from falls
- 19%: Heart conditions
- 12%: Pneumonia
- The remaining 33% was labeled "other conditions" and includes fever, mental status changes, gastrointestinal bleeding, urinary tract infections, metabolic disturbances and skin diseases.
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Nursing home residents with a potentially preventable ED visit also tended to have a shorter length of stay at the nursing home and were taking more medications.
To learn more, click here. To view the original blog entry, click here.
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