Often in the course of our day as therapists and nursing care givers, we encounter numerous complaints of pain and discomfort from our long term residents. How do you respond? Pain is a complex sensory and emotional experience and is

Dementia is categorized as a progressive determination of cognitive skills and ability to adapt to activities of daily living, in the absence of other etiologies. It is of insidious onset and related impairments do not include delirium. It is often

Caring for residents with dementia in a long term care setting requires an ongoing awareness of both their needs and identification of strategies that will facilitate the resident’s participation in their daily care. Caregivers must avoid offering too much assistance

The Frazier Water Protocol (FWP) allows residents with dysphagia free access to water with little to no incidence of aspiration pneumonia. It was developed by Kathy Panther, MS, CCC-SLP, inpatient rehabilitation director at the Frazier Rehab Institute in Louisville, KY

In a time of change……………maintaining our ability as therapy  providers to ensure adequate  patient care can be a challenge.  As Physical, Occupational and Speech Language Pathologists our focus is on restoring function and improving quality of life. As reimbursement requirements

Restorative Nursing programs are vital to long term care. These traditional nursing home programs, if not well managed and organized may leave long term care residents with an overall poorer quality of life lower and declines in function that impact

Functional maintenance Programs (FMP’s) are clinical programs that can be designed to augment or maintain a residents functional status and wellbeing.  It includes therapy services that seek to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance quality of life or

Currently, more than two million Americans have heart failure and about 700 thousand new cases are diagnosed each year. The five year survival rate is approximately 50%, but varies depending on the cause of heart failure and the ability of

How do we best serve our patient’s in long term care when it comes to “wellness”? And, just what does “wellness” mean? From the view of a therapist it may mean walking better, dressing and grooming independently, following appropriate nutritional

Falls in the long term care setting account for nearly 25% of hospitalizations of the elderly and 40% of all nursing home admissions. Declining strength, cognition, balance and poor safety awareness related disease processes can negatively impact a resident’s ability