Hearing Loss: Why Does It Matter for Nursing Homes?

Over the past decade, hearing loss has emerged as a key issue for aging and health. We describe why hearing loss may be especially disabling in nursing home settings and provide an estimate of prevalence using the Minimum Data Set (MDS v.3.0). We outline steps to mitigate hearing loss. Many solutions are inexpensive and low-tech, but require significant awareness and institutional commitment.     

Evaluation of Nursing Facility Resident Safety During Implementation of the INTERACT Quality Improvement Program

Background

Medicare incentivizes the reduction of hospitalizations of nursing facility (NF) residents. The effects of these incentives on resident safety have not been examined.

Higher Level of Obesity Is Associated with Intensive Personal Care Assistance in the Nursing Home

Objectives

To examine whether higher obesity level was associated with extensive staffing assistance (from 2 or more persons) for completing activities of daily living (ADL) among older nursing home residents.

Gender Differences in Deviance and Health Risk Behaviors Among Young-Adults Undergraduate Students

Background: Deviant and health risk behaviors among young-adults are associated with many adverse outcomes. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate a broad variety of behaviors by gender differences and their contribution to predicting cannabis use in undergraduate students. Method: This research is based on a structured, self-reported anonymous questionnaire distributed to 1,432 young adult undergraduate students at an Israeli University, 533 males and 899 females (mean age 27.4; SD 6.01).

Results: The findings demonstrate a significant proportion of sampled young adults reported to be involved in deviant and health risk behaviors and that all risky behaviors were more frequently significant in males than in females. Among drivers 72% reported speeding, 60% reported failure to keep distance, 44% reported being involved at a car accident as a driver, 40% reported not stopping at a stop sign, and quarter reported driving after drinking alcohol. These findings also expand how certain risk behaviors contribute to predicting cannabis use. Conclusions: The relatively high prevalence of some of these risky behaviors among normative young adults suggests that risky behaviors are considered as normative behavior for this group, especially among man, and therefore, policymakers need to consider prevention and harm reduction interventions relevant to this risk group.     

三甲医院病人分级护理服务需求影响因素及对策研究

目的通过对病人分级护理服务现状的调查,分析病人分级护理服务需求的影响因素。方法对6家三甲医院主管临床护理的管理者进行分级护理方面的调研,对6家三甲医院的病人进行病人分级护理服务需求问卷调查。结果不同职业、文化程度、自理能力、护理等级的护理服务需求比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。0.004%的病人暂时尚无分级护理服务需求。在7 911名有分级护理服务需求的病人中,97.5%的病人希望有基本治疗服务,95.9%的病人希望有病情观察服务,95.7%的病人希望有健康教育服务,87.5%的病人希望有清洁服务,36.8%的病人希望有帮助活动服务,26.1%的病人希望有饮食指导服务,22.7%的病人希望有帮助排泄服务。相关性分析结果显示,经济状况与文化程度有关(r=0.288,P<0.01),年龄和病人自理能力有关(r=0.266,P<0.01)。多因素logistic回归分析结果显示,自理能力、护理等级是分级护理服务需求的影响因素(P<0.05)。结论自理能力越差,护理等级越高,病人分级护理服务需求度越高。社会与政府应当重视病人的分级护理,明确等级划分标准,规范分级护理服务内容,加强分级护理服务建设。     

The principal–agent problem and owner‐managers: An instrumental variables application to nursing home quality

The literature on provider ownership has primarily focused broadly on for‐profits compared with nonprofits and chains versus nonchains. However, the understanding of more nuanced ownership arrangements within individual facilities is limited. Utilizing the principal–agent and managerial control frameworks, we study the role of managerial ownership and its relationship to quality among for‐profit nursing homes (NHs). We identify NH administrators with more than 5% ownership (owner‐manager) from Ohio Medicaid Cost Reports (2005–2010) and link these data to long‐stay resident records in the Minimum Data Set. Using differential distance to the nearest NHs with a salaried manager relative to an owner‐manager, we address the differential selection into these two types of NHs. After instrumenting for admissions to owner‐managed NHs, quality among long‐stay residents at owner‐managed NHs is generally better than NHs with salaried managers. We find suggestive evidence that the magnitudes of quality difference are larger when the principal–agent problem is likely more pronounced, such as when NHs that are part of a multifacility chain and located in more concentrated markets.     

Compassion: a concept analysis

Compassion is a quality deemed sine qua non for nursing and claimed to underpin the profession in its larger-than-life scope. Yet the meaning of the concept "compassion" (or "compassionate care") is neither clearly defined in nursing scholarship nor widely promoted in the context of contemporaneous everyday nursing practice. The term in its moral dimension has, at best, been downgraded as an optional practice in everyday nursing care and, at worst, dismissed as lofty ideals connected to other disciplines, such as religion and ethics. A concept analysis using Walker and Avant's strategic method as well as Rodgers's evolutionary paradigm was undertaken to clarify the meaning of the concept "compassion" and examine its relevance in the context of everyday nursing practice.     

Quality of life in nursing homes: perception of physically frail elderly residents

The purpose of this research was to disclose the characteristics of quality of life as perceived by physically frail but lucid elderly people living in nursing homes to increase the understanding of the phenomenon of quality of life in this setting. Eight elderly residents living in two nursing homes in Iceland were interviewed on two occasions. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed to generate text for hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Observation was also undertaken at both nursing homes to enhance the understanding of the residents' narration. The participants' concern in relation to quality of life emerges in the following main themes: (i) Securing the insecure body; (ii) Seeking solace; (iii) Preparing for departure; and (iv) Affirmation of self. The findings indicate that the phenomenon quality of life is manifold and complex, having many dimensions. The most important aspects of quality of life were for the residents to feel secure in the nursing home, have a place of their own where they could be alone with their thoughts, set their affairs in order and be prepared for death. Furthermore, it mattered to be recognized as an individual with his or her roots in their own respective family and doing meaningful things. These aspects of life in a nursing home contribute to living in a meaningful world in which humanity is preserved. It is important in caring for this particular group of residents in the nursing home to know what matters most in relation to their quality of life.     

Can selective serotonin inhibitor drugs in elderly patients in nursing homes be reduced?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) could be withdrawn for elderly residents who had been on treatment for at least one year and to evaluate a method for systematic drug review. DESIGN: Open, prospective, interventional study. SETTING: Four counties in Sweden. SUBJECTS: Elderly residents at 19 nursing homes, with ongoing treatment with SSRIs for more than one year. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical evaluation, registration of drugs used and rating with Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). A semi-structured telephone interview with 15 participating physicians and 19 nurses. RESULTS: About one-third of all 822 residents in the nursing homes had ongoing antidepressant treatment, predominantly with SSRIs; 75% of them had been treated with SSRIs for at least one year and 119 (60%) of these were considered eligible for the study. The intervention was judged successful in 52% of these residents of whom 88% had a MADRS rating of less than 20 points. The GPs and the nurses experienced the method as practicable. CONCLUSIONS: Withdrawal of SSRI treatment was successful in the majority of cases. The MADRS may be a valuable addition to clinical evaluation when deciding whether to end or continue SSRI treatment.