Health
5 Tips To Improve Your Nursing Care
by John Gary
These days, the demand for trusted nursing care is on the rise. This means the business is good for facilities that specialize in taking care of people that are no longer able to care for themselves due to old age, disabilities, or other serious health conditions.
Here are 5 tips to improve nursing care in your care facility:
Be Compassionate with Family Members
Keep in mind that it is often difficult for family members to decide to place their loved ones in long-term nursing care. You should always provide compassionate care, not only to your long-term patient, but also to their family when they come to visit or make an inquiry on the phone.
Always be friendly, respectful, and welcoming to them. If they have questions about their loved one’s health, answer them as honestly and diplomatically as you can while still following HIPAA guidelines.
Host Events and Activities
It is important to engage your residents while they are staying with you. Activities and events, like holding birthday parties for residents or bringing in a local choir or student band, will help bring happiness to your residents while they are staying with you.
You might also consider inviting family members to visit during these events to create a memorable, happy occasion.
Allow Residents Outdoor Time
If residents are healthy enough and the weather is permitting, you should allow residents the ability to go outside with supervision. Fresh air and sunshine is refreshing, especially for people who have limited life experiences due to being in long-term care.
Decorate for Holidays
Holidays are meant to be celebrated! Always be sure to decorate for the holidays to help spread cheer within your facility. You do not want your residents to forget that it is Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, or Thanksgiving. This helps keep morale high.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
Technology has advanced the ways in which people do nearly everything. These days, there are apps and other programs available to help healthcare professionals do their jobs better. Apps and programs can be used to help diagnose health problems in residents and monitor patients.
Outsource Non-Care Duties to Qualified Professionals
Ultimately, your patients are what your facility is all about. By outsourcing duties such as janitorial services, linen services, and medical billing to professionals that specialize in these services, your employees can focus on caring for your residents.
Outsourced services are a great way to increase efficiency and reduce overall costs. For instance, a linen service eliminates the need for your employees to wash sheets, towels, and other linens.
When you set up a service, you let them know how many bed sheets, washcloths, towels and other linens you need on a weekly basis. Instead of using funds from your operations to buy these disposable items and maintaining them yourself, the linen service supplies and maintains them for you.
Take Your Responsibilities Seriously
As the owner or a manager of a long-term healthcare facility, you have a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Not only must you provide exceptional care for your residents, you must do everything in your power to make your facility clean, efficient and profitable.
