Did you know that this is National Gerontological week? Here are some ways to celebrate, courtesy of the NGNA. Obtain a proclamation from the mayor of your town proclaiming October 1- 8 as National Gerontological Nurses Week. Develop a calendar of events. Plan to honor your colleagues with a recognition award (certificate or plaque). ...

Are you a CCRC? You may not want to say so, according to a consulting firm that writes: ''We believe that marketing your retirement community as continuing care retirement community may be one of the worst decisions you could ever make. In fact, I would put as much distance between my retirement community and the term ''continuing care ...

  With Scott Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate special election, health care reform looks dramatically different than it did. Democrats have two options, writes Stephanie Condon on CBS News. House Democrats can pass the Senate bill on the condition that Democrats would make revisions to the legislation through a separate ''fix it'' ...

Organizations have undertaken considerable effort to institute teams within the workplace. Since teams can bring a level of productivity that often fails to exist on the individual level, many managerial consultants have emphasized the implementation of teams to problem solve and enhance organizational productivity. However, many consultants ...

With record unemployment rates, you'd think the health care industry would be closer to filling the workforce shortages that have plagued the industry for years. While a few administrators I talked to told me their staffing levels are stabilizing and they are relying less on agencies, there are still nearly 110,000 caregiving vacancies in ...

Budgets are done initially as computer-modeled projections based on previous performance. What that means is that the computer looks at what was spent and models a budget for the next cycle based on that amount. Thus, if you spend less, you will get less. It's pretty weird, but it reflects the belief that you do not need as much as was ...

One of the things I had ongoing on all my units was a wish list in the staff lounges on which anyone could put a request for something they wished to have purchased. I always did my best, at every administrative level, to acquire as much as I could of what staff wanted and needed. It is one form of support for their efforts that recognized their ...

How do we get to the heart of learning about the people we care for?  How can we understand what their unique needs and struggles are?  How do we create training programs that make an impact on the care that we provide?  How do we learn from family members? Recently I had the opportunity to attend a seminar given by my ...

We are all quite different, and all of us come to the workplace setting with different personalities.  Long-term care is no different. It brings individuals of different skills, education levels, temperaments, and in particular personality types to the organizational setting. Some individuals come in with a more introverted, placid ...

Health care administration is not an easy job. Decisions have to be made and often these decisions rely on more than just one person. In the long-term care environment many decisions are made within a team framework. The administrator, along with the director of nursing, rehabilitation director, dietary and activities directors, maintenance ...