June, 2022

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The Case for Integrating Social Determinants Into Palliative Care

Hospice News

Individually, palliative care and social determinants programs both have the potential to improve quality of life and reduce costs — but that potential may be greater when the two are combined. Social determinants are non-medical needs that can have a significant impact on the trajectory of patients’ health, such as nutrition, transportation, social or caregiver support, and housing, among others.

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Managing Urinary Symptoms and UTI’s in Older Adults

GeriPal

Summary Transcript Summary. There are a lot of old myths out there about managing urinary tract symptoms and UTI’s in older adults. For example, we once thought that the lower urinary tract was sterile, but we now know it has its own microbiome, which may even provide protection against infections. So giving antibiotics for a positive urine culture or unclear symptoms may actually cause more harm than good.

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How infusion providers can create effective and fair scheduling for nurses with the right software system

AlayaCare

Infusion nurses -- a specialty most certainly on the rise -- are not only health-care professionals but serve as educators and resources to the clients they see on a regular basis. Infusion nurses are highly adaptable specialists who can work in any practice setting where IV therapy is delivered, which is increasingly performed inside special clinics and the homes of patients.

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Five Lessons I Learned from Dad on Our Last Journey Together

Sustainable Caregiving

Dad, a teacher by profession and a lifelong learner, was always there to offer advice and support throughout my upbringing. … Five Lessons I Learned from Dad on Our Last Journey Together Read More ». The post Five Lessons I Learned from Dad on Our Last Journey Together appeared first on Sustainable Caregiving™.

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3 Reasons to Retire Pagers from Healthcare Settings

Let's discuss the trusty pager—an old favorite that’s losing its shine in hospitals and clinics. While once a staple in hospitals and clinics, pagers now present significant limitations that hinder rather than facilitate communication among healthcare professionals. Healthcare professionals are constantly on the move, and they need communication tools that can keep up with their fast-paced lives.

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How to be a compassionate, LGBTQ-inclusive PSW/nurse/professional in palliative care

Life & Death Matters

Moving a loved one to a long-term care (LTC) facility can be stressful and difficult for all involved. Family may struggle to acknowledge they can no longer meet the person’s care needs, and that the person’s health will continue to decline. For a person who identifies as LGBTQ, and their family, there are added concerns, […]. The post How to be a compassionate, LGBTQ-inclusive PSW/nurse/professional in palliative care appeared first on Life and Death Matters.

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What is pediatric hospice care, and how is it different for kids?

HopeHealth

When a child is facing serious illness, they need a special approach to care – and their family does too. Pediatric hospice is here to help. The post What is pediatric hospice care, and how is it different for kids? appeared first on HopeHealth.

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We Are All Just Walking Each Other Home. Don’t Miss the Chance to Talk About It!

Caregiver Warrior

Get to know the people who help you care for your loved ones. Connecting through our stories brings us all closer. The post We Are All Just Walking Each Other Home. Don’t Miss the Chance to Talk About It! appeared first on Caregiver Warrior.

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Dementia and high risk surgery: Joel Weissman and Samir Shah

GeriPal

Summary Transcript Summary. You have a patient with dementia severe enough that she cannot recognize relatives. She falls and breaks her hip. Should she have an operation, and risk the pain, potential complications, and attendant delirium associated with the operation? Should she be treated non-operatively, with aggressive symptom management? A huge part of this decision rests on (1) her previously stated wishes, values, and goals (prior to the onset of dementia); and (2) the outcomes of sur

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Gray is a Color of the Rainbow

Aging Life Care Association

This Pride Month, Aging Life Care Professionals across the country join in celebrating and honoring LGBTQ+ elders. Included in this celebration is understanding the unique needs of LGBTQ+ elders and creating care plans that support and enhance their individual lifestyles. According to SAGE, LGBTQ+ elders are: Twice as likely to be single and live alone … Continue reading Gray is a Color of the Rainbow → The post Gray is a Color of the Rainbow appeared first on Aging Life Care Associa

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Writing in bars

Hospice Volunteering

Hello to my readers and followers! It’s been a long time since I posted here! I wanted to share my latest publication, which has very little to do with hospice volunteering (except that I sometimes wrote in bars about my experiences at hospice!) I hope it gives you a few laughs! [link].

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Real-Life Examples of HIPAA Violations and How to Avoid Them

Speaker: Jack Clough, Chief Growth Officer

Download our 30-minute webinar where we delve into real-life examples of HIPAA violations and preventative measures every organization should know! You will learn: The critical factors that lead to HIPAA violations and how to identify them. Three compelling real-life cases of organizations that faced severe HIPAA penalties. Proven strategies to safeguard YOUR organization against HIPAA violations.

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How to be present with a loved one at the end of life

HopeHealth

When your loved one is nearing the end of life, here are tips for what to say and do – and how to simply be present with them. The post How to be present with a loved one at the end of life appeared first on HopeHealth.

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U.S. Senators Call on CMS to Boost Palliative Care Resources

Hospice News

A bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators have written to U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, calling for a payment model demonstration designed to support greater access to palliative care. The lawmakers urged the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to develop a dedicated community-based palliative care benefit, which has been a longstanding goal for providers and industry advocacy groups.

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Monkeypox: The Basics for Nurses

AJN Off the Charts

In the past, cases of monkeypox only occasionally occurred outside of central and western Africa, where the disease is endemic, and it was virtually always related to travel or to the inappropriate relocation of wild animals. (In the US in 2003, 71 cases of monkeypox in six states were traced to pet prairie dogs that had been imported in the “exotic animals” trade.

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Who should get Palliative Care? Kate Courtright

GeriPal

Summary Transcript Summary. In the US, geriatrics “grew up” as an academic profession with a heavy research base. This was in part due to the tremendous support of the National Institute on Aging. Clinical growth of geriatrics programs has lagged academic research, despite the rapid aging of the population. . Palliative care, in contrast, saw explosive growth in US hospitals.

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The Ultimate Guide to Improving Caregiver Engagement & Retention

Want to learn how to retain your caregivers & improve caregiver retention X3? The home care industry is experiencing turnover rates of over 80%. How are you ensuring your agency is retaining caregivers? This FREE eBook from Smartcare Software is packed with industry secrets needed to keep your caregivers happy, engaged, and retained, unlocking the full potential of your agency.

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Now and Always, Nurses Need to be Advocates for Health Equity

Daily Nurse

Changes in the status of women’s reproductive health and protections have been at the forefront of new headlines in recent weeks. The leaked Supreme Court documents indicating that the justices are on the precipice of turning over 50 years worth of reproductive health precedent has a lot of people pausing to consider the implications of […].

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What Bluebirds Teach Me About Not Giving Up

Elaine Mansfield

Dear Bluebird Mama, Earlier this week, I saw you carrying dried grasses inside a nesting box while your mate flew from barn peak to birdhouse perch to crimson maple tree. I watched from inside through Vic’s astronomy telescope. About three decades ago, he and I set up two boxes on opposite ends of an old fence, and your ancestor moved in that spring. 1st nestling snuggling with unhatched eggs.

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Understanding social determinants of health and rehab

Rehab Realities by Renee Kinder

Renee Kinder. Social determinants of health, understanding what they are, their impact on patient care, and their influence on effective transitions across care settings are all essential for rehab providers. This area is also gaining an increased appreciation from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as noted in multiple forms in this year’s proposed rule.

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Hospices Pay a High Price For Physician Burnout

Hospice News

Physician burnout costs hospices — both literally and figuratively — whether it occurs among their own medical staff or with their referral partners. One of the most damaging effects is higher turnover. Burnout causes a sizable contingent of physicians to leave their jobs and has only grown more prevalent during the pandemic. This not only contributes to hospices’ own labor shortages, but disrupts relationships with other providers.

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Best Practices for Sharing Protected Health Information (PHI)

Explore essential topics in this ebook, including what constitutes PHI and how to identify it using 18 indicators. Gain insights into the importance of safeguarding PHI to protect patient privacy and learn about the severe consequences of HIPAA violations. Discover practical strategies for securely exchanging PHI within your healthcare organization, including assessing risks and implementing effective safeguards.

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Loss from Nurse Attrition Goes Deeper than Numbers

AJN Off the Charts

On watching familiar colleagues leave your unit. . Photo by Javier Allegue/ Unsplash. It feels as though every week, I hear of yet another one to two colleagues who are leaving our pediatric ICU (PICU). Reasons colleagues leave. They’ve been at all kinds of experience levels. Some have only been in our unit for a couple of years, and some have been with us for anywhere from eight to 15 years.

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Palliative Care in A Conflict Zone: Help Us Support Our Hospice and Palliative Care Colleagues in Ukraine

GeriPal

Stories from our colleagues in Ukraine have been both inspiring and troubling. Staff has been working overtime with fewer resources, as programs accommodate internally displaced persons and deal with shortages of supplies, medications, and staff. Families are unable to visit their loved ones and patients suffer from limited access to care and medications.

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What Role Does Empathy Play in Nursing?

Daily Nurse

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and vicariously experience the feelings of another person. It’s a skill that allows you to step into the shoes of patients and fully recognize their needs. In the field of healthcare, your ability to employ empathy can mean life or death for patients. While there is a […].

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I think therefore I am? – If You Had A Choice

Palliverse

Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash. At a palliative care conference years ago the audience was asked to choose between two options. Would you rather die instantly without warning or would you rather know about it and die more gradually? We were instructed to think through both options for a few minutes before a show of hands was counted for each option.

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The Essential Guide to HIPAA-Compliant Messaging for Home Care Teams

Explore the risks posed by non-compliant consumer apps like Instagram and WhatsApp in healthcare settings. Learn about potential HIPAA penalties and use a self-evaluation flowchart to determine your organization's need for HIPAA-compliant messaging. Discover straightforward steps to implement secure communication solutions efficiently, ensuring compliance and protecting patient data effectively.

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The Future of Telehealth and Nursing

Nurse.com

There’s no question about it — telehealth is quickly becoming an industry standard rather than an added option. Medical institutions across the country are discovering the array of benefits telehealth nursing provides and are incorporating the practice into their operations as quickly as possible. While telehealth has been around for decades, it has made leaps and bounds in recent years as patients and providers have embraced the service’s potential to improve healthcare.

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Health Care Orgs Face Liability If End-of-Life Wishes Not Upheld

Hospice News

One of the defining principles of hospice care is honoring the wishes of terminally ill patients. Now, with increasing frequency, a health care provider’s failure to honor those directives can lead to litigation or penalties by regulators. These issues come into play when a health care provider does not adhere to a patients’ advance care plan.

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What Happened to Wonder? A Nurse Looks Back

AJN Off the Charts

This month’s Reflections essay is by Britni Busfiield, who is an RN on the progressive care neuro/trauma unit at Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In this one-page essay, she writes about an experience during her last year of nursing school in which she observed a cerebral angiogram conducted on a patient with a suspected aneurysm.

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Clinical Education – whose job is it anyway?

The Nurse Break

More from In Pursuit of Excellence here. Clinical Education – whose job is it anyway? Clinical nurse educators and those that work within education teams (and may be known be other names such as clinical development nurses, or staff development nurses) are at the forefront of clinical education. As their title suggests, these roles carry a significant responsibility for the provision of education within the health system; however, there is an argument to be had that clinical education is, in fac

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The Cost of Inefficient Communication in Home Care & Beyond

This eBook explores the critical issues of using consumer-grade messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and SMS in healthcare, especially home care. It highlights the negative impacts on patient care quality, data security, and HIPAA compliance and provides practical solutions to enhance communication efficiency! You will learn how to: Consolidate Messaging Platforms: Streamline communication by reducing the use of multiple apps, improving efficiency in patient care.

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What Degrees Will You Need to Reach Your Nursing Career Goals?

Daily Nurse

Nursing has always been an essential, trusted and well-respected career. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and many nurses seeking retirement, nursing education have become an even more critical part of the healthcare system to train new nurses to fulfill this urgent gap in the healthcare system. Nurses are more than just healthcare workers; they […].

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Preserving Memories: Capturing a Senior’s Legacy

Caring Senior Service

Everyone has a story to tell — and seniors have collected a lot of stories over the years. These stories matter because they are a link to the past. A senior’s stories can connect generations, describe history, and teach life lessons. But our aging loved ones won’t be around forever to tell their tales, which is why it’s important to record these memories now and preserve them for future generations.

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Addressing Workplace Violence in Nursing

Nurse.com

Many people are surprised to learn how often workplace violence in nursing occurs. Several factors increase a nurse’s risk of facing workplace violence, including directly dealing with patients who have a history of violence or who may be delirious or under the influence of drugs. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor, the rate of serious workplace violence incidents was, on average, more than four times higher in healthcare than in private industry between 2002 and 2013.

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Rural Providers Weigh Telehealth Investment Against Regulatory Uncertainty

Hospice News

Hospices are leveraging expanded telehealth options to maximize access for hard-to-reach rural patients despite lingering regulatory uncertainties. Case in point, the Providence Institute for Human Caring last year launched a tele-palliative care program aimed at addressing rural patients’ unmet needs. Thus far, the initiative has yielded positive results, but the process hasn’t always been easy, according to Dr.

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The Secret to Supercharging Your Organizations Communications

Effective collaboration among all care team members is critical to delivering better patient outcomes. A key element to achieving effective collaboration is through the implementation of a clinical communication and collaboration platform. In a fast-paced, high-stress and critical environment, people tend to do whatever gets the job done. Therefore will scramble and use the systems, people, or processes around them to get an outcome more quickly - which can often be at the expense of quality.