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| October 2011 |
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New Article on Assessing Caregivers’ Needs in Transitions Nurses play an important role in transitions from hospital to home or nursing home rehab program. Assessing caregivers’ needs, however, is often overlooked. A new article by Carol Levine, director of the United Hospital Fund’s Families and Health Care Project, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Nursing, argues that caregivers’ needs assessments should be done routinely, because they help make the transition smoother for patients, which is everyone’s ultimate goal. The article discusses five basic elements in the process: (1) identification of the family caregiver(s) most appropriate for the assessment; (2) selection of the appropriate assessment instrument; (3) presentation of the assessment as an opportunity to discuss the caregiver’s perspective; (4) use of good communication skills; and (5) follow-up on care coordination and other recommendations. The article has an accompanying video, featuring Carol, in addition to a patient and his wife, nurse, and social worker from NYU Langone Medical Center, which participated in the Fund’s Transitions in Care–Quality Improvement Collaborative. The video features the Next Step in Care guide “What Do I Need as a Family Caregiver?” A podcast with Carol completes the set. Aging Today Features Article on Urgent Care Centers Carol’s article “Emergency! Yes? No.” is on page 1 of the September/October issue of Aging Today. (Three punctuation marks in a three-word title must be some sort of record.) The article reviews the benefits and downsides of urgent care centers for elderly people. Thanks to the American Society of Aging for permission to reprint and to Judy and Ruth Willig for sharing their experiences for the article. IHI Recommends Next Step in Care Guides The 2011 edition of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s guide to transitions from hospital to home recommends the Next Step in Care guide “Going Home: What You Need to Know,” as well as other Next Step in Care guides. This checklist is an easy-to-use format for collecting all the information caregivers need to make the day of discharge as smooth as possible. Join Us on Facebook Our Facebook page—Family
Caregivers and Better Health Care—is our first venture into
social media. We update the page frequently—three to four times
a week—and encourage comments. We post items about Next Step in
Care and news from the many worlds of family caregiving. We
post items directly relating to caregiving, and others that are a
little offbeat. Do you know, for example, which current movie
has a caregiver as its central character? (For the
answer, see the Facebook posting on August 25.) Our particular
interest is in helping family caregivers navigate the complex health
care system. We invite comments and posts (no
commercials for products or services, please). We hope you
“like”
us. |
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