Be In the Know!

Have you seen the latest online newsletter from the Joint Commission?  It details a number of the “most challenging requirements” for the first half of 2010…in other words, the requirements for which organizations are getting cited.  This is great information, especially if you expect a Joint Commission survey any time soon.

Here are some examples:

• 31% of home care agencies surveyed this year were found non-compliant in following physician’s orders!
• 23% of home care staff were found to be less than competent to perform their jobs.
• Home care staff failed to reduce the risk of client falls 21% of the time.
• A whopping 24% of Medicare-certified nursing homes were deficient in hand hygiene!
• In skilled nursing facilities, residents were not assessed or reassessed properly 17% of the time.
• 16% of skilled nursing facilities had an ineffective emergency plan.
• Hospitals didn’t fare any better.  47% of them were cited for improper fire safety equipment.  And, 27% of them did not maintain a safe environment for patients.

Armed with the above knowledge, you can take steps now to prepare your nursing assistants for future Joint Commission (or other) surveys.  And, we can help!  In the Know has inservices covering all of the above topics…and much, much more.  If you have pressing issues that you feel might come up during a survey, give us a call.  We can help you put together a pre-survey inservice plan that will help your CNAs sail through with no deficiencies!

And, if you’d like to see the Joint Commission statistics for yourself, check them out here.

Last week, the results of a Penn State study on occupational injuries were revealed.  It should come as no surprise that nursing assistants and home health aides were high on the “injured list”.  However, the researchers found that on-the-job injuries caused a lot more than just a few aches and pains.  They also led to increased CNA turnover and, potentially, a bad reputation in the community!  Here’s what Deirdre McCaughey, assistant professor of health policy and administration had to say:

“In our research, we saw a cascading effect.  Employees who had no training or did not believe their training prepared them well had more injuries.  Those employees were also much less likely than non-injured employees to recommend their organization as a place at which to work or seek services.”

Here are some other findings of the study:

• Employees who felt ill-prepared were three times more likely to be injured than employees who were well-trained.
• Employees who felt poorly supervised were also more likely to be injured–not just once, but multiple times.
• Cutting back on training to shave the budget increased employees’ injury risk and turnover rates.  In the long run, this boosted costs rather than saving money!

You’ve probably experienced it firsthand.  When money gets tight, education is one of the first things to go…especially at the nursing assistant level.  But are you really saving money?  What are the injury and turnover rates at your workplace?  If asked, do you think your CNAs would consider themselves both well-trained and well-supervised? Would they recommend your organization as a place to work or as a place to receive care?

At In the Know, we strive to provide quality CNA continuing education to meet every budget.  If you’d like to discuss how you can maintain a top-notch team of (healthy) nursing assistants please give us a call at 877-809-5515.  With more than 130 inservice topics, including modules on safe transfers, back care, the CNA/Nurse relationship and personal wellness, we can meet your CNAs’ learning needs.

Happy Teaching!

Linda

The dictionary defines compassion as “a deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve that suffering.” So, for someone to be compassionate, he or she must be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, AND act on his or her desire to lessen that person’s suffering or unhappiness.

It can be hard to always know whether or not your nurse aides act in a compassionate manner while on the job.  That’s why it’s so important to encourage compassionate behavior.  By studying our newly added inservice called “The Caring Qualities of a CNA,” your nurse aides will learn everything they can do to have more empathy, compassion, patience, dedication and respect for their clients.

A Peek Inside the Inservice:

Whether or not you can TEACH compassion is a question that is hard to answer.  However, as a nurse educator, you can ENCOURAGE your nurse aides to be more compassionate.  Try sharing the following tips with your CNAs:

• Remember to put your clients’ needs before your own.
• Treat people fairly and with respect and dignity.
• Show kindness without expecting rewards.
• Get to know your clients.
• Comfort your client’s family members who may be stressed and/or grieving.
• Be sensitive and allow people to vent their frustrations.
• Listen when people confide in you.
• Be friendly to any new co-workers who seem to be overwhelmed.
• Help a co-worker without being asked.
• Try to understand someone you don’t like or with whom you disagree.
• Accept people for who they are–faults and all!

Click here to see a sample page of “The Caring Qualities of a CNA.”

If your client population is comprised mostly of seniors, the National Mental Health Information Center has some terrific (and free) resources for you.  As you probably know, mental health is a big issue for seniors.  In fact, people over age 65 have one of the highest suicide rates of any age group in the United States!

At the National Mental Health Information Center, you can download (at no charge) toolkits, fact sheets and staff workshops all aimed at preventing suicide and promoting optimal mental health among senior citizens.  All you need to take advantage of these materials is Acrobat Reader.

As your nurse aides provide personal care and assist with ADLs, it’s vital that they also pay attention to their clients’ mental health status.  If you are looking for additional mental health resources, don’t forget In the Know inservices.  We offer the following related topics:

• Understanding Depression
• Working with the Mentally Ill
• Understanding Schizophrenia
• Understanding Common Phobias
• Understanding Suicide

Because your CNAs spend so much time with your clients, they are in a good position to notice changes in mental health.  So, be sure to arm your nursing assistants with the knowledge they need to make (and report) appropriate observations about their clients’ mental health.