Elder Law

Changing Cultural Vital for Nursing Homes

By Levin & Perconti

As a generation of elderly people resists the fate of nursing homes they?ve grown to dread, supporters of a cultural revolution say they are reforming an industry long tainted by images of neglected patients languished on soiled sheets. After nursing homes failed nationwide, some state?s are beginning a ?pay-for-performance? plan which sends higher Medicaid payments to homes that make changes from reducing bed sores to giving residents food on demand. Reformers say the heart is just treating people the way you want to be treated. Nursing homes should promote cultural change or comparable reforms are vital for baby boomers who do not want to enter the mass warehousing that occurs in current nursing homes. Nursing homes should break from institutional schedules and rules where residents must eat at common times or take showers at a rigid hour. Additionally, a nursing home should train their staff in resident-centered care and reassign employees to more-consistent jobs. They should also attempt to alter the physical monotony of nursing homes by adding gardens, mediation rooms or restaurant-style dining areas. These changes will greatly improve the years that the elderly spend at nursing homes. To read the full story, click here.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on November 21, 2008 (boomark / email).