Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community

discussion

Discussion: Nursing Homes in Your Community and Neighboring
Communities

Nursing homes have become a viable option for geriatric
patients who require routine care and need help performing basic activities of
daily living, with about 33 million patients residing in nursing homes in the
United States (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2013) While
nursing homes provide care and services to patients, problems can arise
resulting in reduced quality of care and, in some cases, illness and morbidity
The severe implications of pressure ulcers make them a major concern for elders
residing in nursing homes The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(2013) estimate that 75% of nursing home residents have pressure ulcers and
about 82,000 patients develop them each year In your role as the advanced
practice nurse, you must understand factors that contribute to the incidence of
pressure ulcers in order to improve patient outcomes

For this Discussion, you examine the prevalence of pressure
ulcers in nursing homes and develop strategies for increasing awareness and
reducing incidence

To prepare:

Review Chapter 32 of the Resnick text and Chapter 12 of the
Holroyd-Leduc and Reddy text

Select four nursing homes in your community and/or neighboring
communities Research and locate reports on these nursing homes through
organizations such as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Compare the four nursing homes you selected based on
reported cases of the development of new pressure ulcers

Think about factors in the nursing home setting that
contribute to pressure ulcer issues, such as patient activity, nutrition, or
the number of staff available to care for patients

Research guidelines for the prevention of pressure ulcers
Think about how you might increase awareness among nursing home staff about the
incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients

By Day 3

Post a brief description of the four nursing homes you
selected from your community and/or neighboring communities Compare these four
nursing homes based on the reported cases of new pressure ulcers Then, explain
factors in the nursing home setting that might contribute to incidence of
pressure ulcer issues Finally, based on guidelines for the prevention of
pressure ulcers, explain how you might increase awareness among nursing home
staff about the incidence and consequences of pressure ulcers in patients

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different
days in one or more of the ways listed below Respond to colleagues who
selected different nursing homes than you did

Offer and support an alternative perspective based on your
own experience and additional literature search

Validate an idea with your own experience and additional
literature search

 

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