Clinical

OPTIMA Award: How SAIDO Learning works

The SAIDO Learning program is designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex, resulting in activity that can be measured by two standard cognitive tests. Read More »

OPTIMA Award: The SAIDO clinical trial

A simple, easy-to-learn program that can minimize or even reverse the effects of cognitive decline from dementia? One senior services network put skepticism aside and agreed to serve as the sole U.S. clinical trial site. Seeing is believing, the organization says. Read More »

SAIDO Learning: A timeline

The journey to bring the SAIDO Learning approach to treating Alzheimer's disease and dementia from Japan to the United States began in 2010, nine years after the technique had been developed overseas. This timeline details the process. Read More »

2013 OPTIMA Award: The gift of the present

The Eliza Jennings Senior Care Network is Long-Term Living's 2013 OPTIMA Award winner, honored for bringing a memory care program from a distant land to the United States and integrating the program's vision into the person-centered care delivered across its provider network. Read More »

Shingles vaccination at 60?

Today, drugstores, supermarkets, wholesale clubs and discount stores advertise their flu, pneumonia and shingles vaccines. But, as Long-Term Living resident blogger Kathy Mears reminds us, immunization can avoid or minimize contracting a very painful case of herpes zoster, otherwise known as shingles. Read More »

Seniors have too many post-surgery emergency department visits, study finds

Seniors seeking emergency department assistance within 30 days of common surgical procedures experience problems that can lead to readmission, creating a revolving door effect and a lowering of Medicare reimbursement to hospitals. Read More »

Research seeks ways to improve long-term care offerings in reformed healthcare system

An academic powerhouse and several senior living service providers are joining forces to try to find ways to increase the quality of long-term care while decreasing unnecessary healthcare spending. Read More »

Senior living in TV spotlight again

Potty-mouthed? Mournful? These are some of the adjectives being used to describe a new show depicting life and work in a senior living facility. Read More »

Eye disease poses isolation danger in seniors

Increased isolation, decreased quality of life, mood changes and depression are associated with a particular eye disease in seniors, Johns Hopkins researchers have found. Read More »

Rehab nurse wins McHugh LTC nursing award

LeadingAge honors a New York nurse with the 2013 McHugh award for excellence in long-term care nursing. Read More »

NHPCO: Pain is not a complaint

Many residents believe pain is simply a part of growing older or living with disease. Not so, say palliative care organizations that are using September as Pain Awareness Month to re-educate caregivers and residents on how to converse about pain management. Read More »

A new standard for absorbent products is needed

The National Association for Continence has issued recommendations on quality performance standards for continence products. Read More »

Higher staffing levels mean better quality, report card finds

A new analysis of nursing homes scores facilities on eight federal quality measures to determine where to find the highest- and lowest-quality care. Read More »

Aging brains benefit from video game

Participants in a recent study experienced improved performance in three cognitive areas after they played a specially designed video game. Read More »

Stress may precede falls, and new technology may detect them

New research finds that older men experiencing the death of a loved one or financial problems are more likely to fall within the next year. Technology under development may help detect such falls, however, and notify caregivers for assistance. Read More »

Nursing homes serving black residents have fewer resources for care, study finds

A study of more than 11,500 nursing homes reveals racial disparities in care, and researchers have some ideas about why – and some potential solutions, too. Read More »

Author’s royalties to benefit the National Hospice Foundation

Award-winning author and photographer Judith Fox supports hospice and palliative care on a national level, donating royalties from her newly released book One Foot Forward. Read More »

In Maryland, a new treatment directive replaces standard DNR form

How far does a “Do Not Resuscitate” order go? In Maryland, the state doesn’t think it goes far enough and replaces the DNR with a new, more comprehensive form. Read More »

Trends in resident care services and infection control

Now that providing quality resident care has grown far beyond mere Activities of Daily Living, we asked Long-Term Living's readers to tell us about their communities' new care initiatives, including their clinical monitoring programs, infection control protocols and, of course, how they’re training their nurses and other caregivers to meet the new care quality levels demanded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Read More »

5 tests to avoid in long-term care settings

Percutaneous feeding tubes, sliding scale insulin, urine cultures, antipsychotic medications and lipid-lowering drugs should be used only under certain circumstances, representatives of the long-term care field say in a national campaign. Read More »

Step into September

As we say good-bye to August and begin the “dog days” of summer, there are a number of exciting events and seasonal advisories to share. Read More »

The present and future of long-term services and support

Newly released data summarize the present state of long-term services and support — and what the future holds. Read More »

Not enough ‘assist’ in assisted living for me

Twenty years ago, Long-Term Living blogger Kathleen Mears decided that because of her disability and need for additional care, it was time to consider long-term care. She shares her reason for choosing skilled nursing. Read More »

Does Parkinson’s need to meet Mary Jane?

New drug-extraction techniques have turned the spotlight back on how CBD can help to treat those with neurological tremor disorders like Parkinson’s—and the new interest in a “transformed” version of medical marijuana. Read More »

9 new quality goals for nursing homes unveiled by initiative

Nursing homes participating in a new initiative may gain competitive advantages, organizers say. In the process, they could collect data helpful in establishing uniform national standards and evidence-based best practices. Read More »

Rapid aging may be your mother’s doing, study says

Good genes? Researchers link the aging process to defective DNA inherited from mother. Read More »

Recruitment company owner found guilty of forced labor

Foreign-born nurses answering an Internet recruitment ad were lured to the United States on the promise of university-level positions. When the nurses arrived, they found no job and no university. Read More »

5 communities win gold from AHCA/NCAL

Five communities join the elite ranks of gold-level winners in AHCA/NCAL's National Quality Award program. Read More »

Ethics issues in dementia care are often inconsistent, study says

Treating a resident with any level of dementia involves much more than the clinical data, as one study shows. Read More »

Remote patient-monitoring technology still faces reimbursement roadblock

Device improvements as well as changes in government incentives, nursing staffing levels and the size of the senior population will lead to greater adoption of telemedicine in long-term care, but reimbursement remains a challenge for now. Read More »