A recent study, published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing, looks at how the level of education about pressure sore prevention among nursing home staff affects the level of care provided to residents. The article, titled “Pressure ulcers: knowledge and attitude of nurses and nursing assistants in Belgian nursing homes”,…
The March 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing studies trends in pressure ulcer prevention in skilled nursing facilities in its article titled “Registered Nurses’ Attention to and Perceptions of Pressure Ulcer Prevention in Hospital Settings.” Pressure ulcers continue to be a major problem in nursing homes and yet,…
A recent article titled “Observing How RNs Use Clinical Time in a Nursing Home: A Pilot Study” observes how RNs allocate their time between direct and indirect care of their patients. While direct care generally involves physical and psychological care and the administration of treatments, indirect care is more administrative,…
Recently, as reported by The Baltimore Sun on January 12, 2012, certain health care groups have been engaging in a practice called “upcoding.” This increasingly prevalent practice involves healthcare providers reporting more serious medical conditions to the government, in order to receive higher reimbursement rates. In this specific case, an…
In the January issue of the Journal of American Medical Directors Association, an article titled “When is a Chronic Wound Infected?” studies various methods of determining when a chronic wound is infected and judges which of these methods is most accurate. The article begins by explaining that the skin is…
Pressure sores, also known as decubitus ulcers or bed-sores, are common in elderly adults who are not properly cared for or neglected. They are especially prevalent among those who reside in nursing homes, often as a direct result of neglect by caregivers. Pressure sores can occur when a patient remains…
Under California Health and Safety Code Section 1276.5, skilled nursing facilities are required to provide at least 3.2 nursing hours per patient, per day. The “nursing hours” include only the hours work performed by direct caregivers, which include not only registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses, but also aides, orderlies…
Pressure ulcers are debilitating chronic wounds that cause torture and suffering to those inflicted, and in severe cases carry the substantial probability of death. Elderly residents of Alameda County and Bay Area nursing homes with physical and or cognitive impairments- especially those with a higher number of medical problems- face…