Administrators:

Best Practices

 

The PositiveLights.org Web Site

The administrators of elder care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities have a most difficult task.

First and foremost, they must create and foster a work environment that emphasizes the care of the elderly and disabled who are living in their facility. In many cases, their residents don't want to be living in the facility and are angry at having to do so. The residents sometimes take out their frustrations on the staff of the facility -- which makes it even harder to maintain a friendly environment.

Second, they must comply with the often contradictory requirements of various local, state and federal regulations -- some of which are more of a problem than a solution.

Third, and perhaps most difficult, they must manage a business -- whether it is a for profit or a not for profit organization. They must recruit, train and motivate a staff of caregivers and administrative support personnel, often with severely limited budgets for the staff. They must find ways to cope with the escalating cost of medical care and the decreasing financial support available from the federal and state government.

Fourth, they must do all of these things in spite of the demands made by residents and their family members for more staff, for more activities, and for improvements in the physical environment. They must also cope with unrealistic expectations by family members and must sometimes be prepared to defend their decisions against lawsuits by family members who are grossly unreasonable in their demands. 

There are many administrators who manage to accomplish the management of these conflicting activities with positive results for all who are involved with their facility. Unfortunately, there are also many administrators who are over-whelmed with these conflicting tasks and who are not able to create or to maintain a positive environment for the residents and the professional caregivers.

Positive Lights, Inc. seeks to discover why some administrators are successful in this difficult task and why others are unable to cope with the conflicts. We seek to communicate why some are successful and why others are not.

We also seek to give public recognition to those administrators who are examples of best practices in the administration of facilities for the care of the elderly and disabled. We welcome stories and information about how some administrators create and maintain a positive environment in their facility.

Gregg Gimlin

President

editor-@-positivelights.org

Health Grades - Health Care Quality Ratings

This web site provides detailed information on over 16,000 nursing homes in the U.S.  A free sample report is available to show the kind of information in their reports. A single report is just $5.95. Additional reports are $2.95 each. It does not appear that they provide reports on retirement homes or assisted living facilities. They also provide similar reports on hospitals and physicians.

http://www.healthgrades.com/

Shopping for a Nursing Home (Consumer Reports)

Benchmarks of good nursing home care.

http://www.healthgrades.com/

Nursing Home Watch List by State (Consumer Reports)

State by state information about nursing home inspection reports. While this information is valuable in your search for a good nursing home, we believe you should discuss any reported deficiencies with the administration. We know of one instance where a very high quality nursing home received a bad rating because a guest allowed a patient to wander through the main entrance and in spite of the fact that the staff of the nursing home discovered and corrected the problem immediately.

Medicare - Nursing Home Comparison

This government web site helps you to locate a nursing home by state, country, city, zip code or by name. Information about quality reviews and Medicare reviews are available for each nursing home.

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/

SearchCriteria.asp?version=default&browser=IE%7C6%7CWin98&

language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home

American Health Care Association

Assisted Living Success - An Industry Magazine