Picker Long-Term Care Program

Consistent with Picker Institute’s credo that quality of life is as important as quality of clinical care in all healthcare settings, the Institute inaugurated its long-term care program in March 2008, taking the mission to promote patient-centered care to the nursing home  arena.

Under one aspect of the program, Picker awards grants to support research agenda initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life in all LTC settings, with the goal of making  patient-centered care a reality in many more nursing homes throughout the country.

Included in the program is also the Picker Award for Excellence® in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in a Long-Term Care Setting and a robust presence at long-term care-oriented conferences throughout the country. Click here for a comprehensive account of the present and past Picker LTC research agenda.

Hot Topics on Video

Has concern for the physical safety of an aging population hijacked
the attention that should be paid to their emotional and spiritual needs? Karen
Schoeneman, MPA, the deputy director of the nursing home division of the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Heidi Gil, NHA, the director
of continuing care at Planetree, discuss what some advocates for the elderly
are calling “surplus safety” and whether it can diminish the sense of dignity
and community that is so important to the well-being of the elderly.

TimeSlips Promotes Creative Engagement
for People with Dementia

TimeSlips, a creative storytelling project funded in part by
Picker Institute’s Long-Term Care Program, went live on the Web
on Friday, Sept. 24.

Developed in 1998 by Anne Basting, Ph.D., director of the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center on Age & Community, TimeSlips is a
creative engagement tool designed to be used with people with dementia and
their caregivers. By countering the loss of memory with the use of imagination,
the project inspires people with dementia to sharpen and share the gifts of their
imagination and helps others see hope for rekindling the human connection
among people struggling with dementia.

TimeSlips is aimed at bringing joy in imagination to people
wherever they live and whatever their cognitive ability: people
living isolated at home, families living far apart and people
living/working in group facilities.

Click here for a video interview with Dr. Anne Basting.

 

Conversations with Leaders in the Field of Patient-Centered Care

One of the ways Picker Institute supports patient-centered care is by recognizing people in healthcare who have made significant contributions to achieving patient-centered care
worldwide. Conversations with Leaders in the Field of
Patient-Centered Care  is a regular feature that highlights people who have promoted patient-centered care in their work or through their organization. Click here for a Conversation with David Farrell, the director of organizational development and regional director of operations for SnF Management in Berkeley, Calif.

 

Meeting the Leadership Challenge in Long-Term Care: What
You Do Matters, supported in part by a grant from Picker Institute’s
long-term care program, is in bookstores now. The book, by David
Farrell, MSW, LNHA, Cathie Brady, MS, and Barbara Frank, MPA, is “a must read
for nursing home administrators, directors of nursing and others in leadership
positions in long-term care. It offers practical, commonsense,
easy-to-implement approaches that will yield immediate positive results. It
also serves as a wake-up call to leaders who doubt their impact, and as an
affirmation to leaders who struggle daily to do a good job.”

Click here for more information on the book.

 

Partners in Patient-Centered Care

Lucile O. Hanscom, left, executive director of Picker Institute, with Peter Reed, named CEO of Pioneer Network in May 2011, and Jennie Chin Hansen, CEO of the American Geriatrics Society and winner of the 2011 Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in a Long-Term Care Setting. Picker and Pioneer have been partners in long-term care initiatives since 2007.

 

 

Long-Term Care Improvement Guide Nears
Half-Million Mark in Chapter Views

The interactive edition of the Long-Term Care Improvement Guide, posted
online by Picker Institute and Planetree in October 2010, has accumulated
492,442 chapter views through September 2011. In that same period, the Guide was
downloaded 23,392 times.

The  Long-Term Care Improvement Guide is a compendium of best practices that incorporates the perspectives of long- and short-term care residents into a one-of-a-kind
guide to the ways and means of approaching and implementing positive change in
the culture of aging.

“Based on the success of the Patient-Centered Care Improvement Guide, which Picker Institute and Planetree published in 2008, we knew the LTC Guide would be a popular destination,” said Lucile O. Hanscom, executive director of Picker Institute. “But we’re very impressed with the degree to which it has established its place in the long-term care archive, and we expect it will continue to make significant contributions to the long-term
care field.”

Click here to access the interactive Long-Term Care Improvement Guide.

 

Has Healthcare Legislation Changed the Culture of Aging?

Last year’s  healthcare reform legislation continues to be a hot topic wherever and whenever healthcare professionals gather. Two of the best known and most vocal advocates for the elderly—Jennie Chin Hansen, CEO of the American Geriatrics Society and winner of the 2011 Picker Award for Excellence® in Long-Term Care, and Dr. Bill Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative® and the Green House Project® and winner of the 2009 Picker Award in long-term care—trade views on what has and has not changed over the past year and what the future holds.

 

Conversations with Leaders in the Field of Patient-Centered Care

One of the ways Picker Institute supports patient-centered care is by recognizing people in healthcare who have made significant contributions to achieving patient-centered care nationwide. “Conversations with Leaders in the Field of Patient-Centered Care” is a regular feature that highlights these contributions. This Conversation is with Jennie Chin Hansen, RN, MS, FAAN, the CEO of the American Geriatrics Society and the winner of hte 2011 Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in a L0ng-Term Care Setting.

Click here for the Conversation with Jennie Chin Hansen.

 

“Creating Home: Advocating for Change
in How and Where We Age”

In collaboration with its partners and under the direction of Bonnie Kantor, who was at the time its executive director, Pioneer Network developed a consumer education pilot intended to address the growing realization that consumer awareness of and advocacy for the need for culture change in long-term care are critical to its widespread dissemination. The partners in the project included the American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging, the American College of Health Care Administrators, the American Health Care Association, the American Medical Directors Association, the Coalition of Geriatric Nursing Organizations and the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care.

Click here to read the July 2010 Executive Summary of the first phase of “Creating
Home.”

The second phase of the project include revising the “Creating Home” consumer education materials based on feedback from focus groups; taking consumer education to more states; developing a “train the trainer” model to prepare consumers and advocates as facilitators for Creating Home sessions; creating Webinars and online “virtual experiences” for consumers regarding culture change topics; and developing a pilot consumer outreach program with financial planners and elder-law attorneys. The success of these projects continues to depend on collaboration with national, state and local partners.

Click here to read the final report on “Creating Home,” released in September 2011
and including an evaluation of the pilot, an online version of the complete set of “Creating Home” materials published at  the end of phase 2 and the Ambassador for Change Community Outreach Toolkit.

 

2010 Picker Award for Excellence® in the
Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in a
Long-Term Care Setting

Karen C. Schoeneman, MPA, the deputy director of the Division of Nursing Homes of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, was the winner of the 2010 Picker Award iu long-term care. She was cited for her pivotal role in ens