HIGN@NYU Meyers: Championing Health
Dear Friends,As we celebrate Older Americans Month this May, the national theme, “Champion Your Health,” serves as a vital call to action. It encourages older adults to take charge of their well-being, stay active, and maintain independence. However, we at HIGN recognize that one cannot “champion” their health in a vacuum. This is especially true for our …
HIGN@NYU Meyers: Poetry and Aging
Dear Friends,As I read that April was Poetry Month I wondered if, perhaps, there was poem that I might share to help us reflect on dementia and what it means to people living with dementia and their caregivers. I could not find anything that I felt really accomplished this. One of my favorite poems is …
HIGN@NYU Meyers: Building Confidence and Competence in Long-Term Care
Dear Friends, In this month’s newsletter we will share more of HIGN’s innovative work. We have developed an online nurse residency program for nurses who are new to long-term care. For more than a decade, nurse residency programs have been used in acute care to help new nurses acclimate to their roles as bedside nurses …
Each Year, at least 1.7 Million Adults in America Develop Sepsis.
Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection. It is a life-threatening medical emergency. Sepsis happens when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body. Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.
Pain Management: How Communities Can Ensure Safe, Effective Relief
An estimated 45%-80% of post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) residents suffer from some kind of pain. But for a variety of reasons, it is often underdiagnosed and/or undertreated. Striking a balance between effectively alleviating pain and minimizing the risk of opioidrelated complications should be the goal of every community and care team.
Stay Vigilant to Ease Elopement Risks
Elopement is a risk among long-term care facility residents with dementia. In fact, nearly half of individuals with dementia are likely to wander at some point, and about 10% repeatedly.
How to Make the Nurse Manager Role a Perfect Fit
Just because someone is an excellent nurse doesn’t mean they will be a great leader. While nurses learn much in nursing school, they seldom – if ever – learn how to be good managers. As Gwen Wilburn, MBA, RN-BC, senior vice president of clinical operations at The Aspenwood Company in Houston, TX, and AALNA board member and president of the TX chapter, said, “Someone may be a great floor nurse and very task oriented. But a manager has to be more forward thinking and see the bigger picture.”