Long-Term Care Survey Alert
Survey & Clinical News
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Revisions to F371 (sanitary conditions) are cooking right along. The Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services recently circulated a draft of the revised survey guidance to stakeholders for comment. According to the draft, an example of a scenario ripe for an immediate jeopardy citation would be one where surveyors find a facility "had a recent outbreak of foodborne illness related to improper food handling practices, including a lack of hand washing after handling raw and cooked meat products, and those practices have continued."
A new study shows infrared light treatment may help people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A form of light therapy may help your residents suffering from diabetic peripheral neuropathy, a condition that increases risk for skin breakdown, gangrene and falls. In a recent study, researchers provided an eight-week course of pulsed infrared light therapy (PILT) to patients with long-term, serious diabetic peripheral neuropathy resulting from type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The patients received a total of 24 treatments (three a day for eight week). "PILT improved PPS [peripheral protective sensation] even in patients with long-standing chronic neuropathies whose initial pre-study sensation was not measurable" using a 200-g Semmes-Weinstein monofilament, according to the study abstract. Researchers postulate "infrared light may improve peripheral neuropathies by improving foot perfusion by stimulating nitric oxide production," state the authors in the abstract. Read the study in the May 2006 Acta Diabetologica (www.springerlink.com/content/1432-5233).
DAVE 2 says "Read your RAI manual." DAVE 2 nurse reviewers have been on-site in randomly selected facilities since April. When confronted with MDS inaccuracies, some staff are reporting that they haven't read the RAI manual for years or haven't updated it, according to a recent report on the project at a SNF Open Door Forum. Check often for RAI manual updates at www.cms.hhs.gov/NursingHomeQualityInits/20_NHQIMDS20.asp#TopOfPage.
Long-Term Care Survey Alert
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Get A Jumpstart On Your Pain Assessments
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A Pictorial Symbol At The Bedside Can Stave Off Injuries
This simple strategy can communicate ADL needs at a glance.
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Experiencing how residents with [...] - Survey & Clinical News
Revisions to F371 (sanitary conditions) are cooking right along. The Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services [...]