Literature Review

Empowering ‘deeply undervalued’ caregivers would improve ‘lifeline for older adults’ McKnights Senior Living; by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 6/28/24 Direct care workers and family caregivers remain “deeply undervalued” and often overlooked despite calls for investment in the care economy, according to the authors of a new report. “These caregivers provide a lifeline for older adults, people with disabilities, and people living with chronic conditions,” PHI and the National Alliance for Caregiving said in an issue brief released Wednesday. “Empowering them in their roles will help to ensure high quality, responsive care to meet the needs and preferences of millions of Americans now and in the future.” The organizations called on providers, Congress, the Department of Labor, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, states, managed care plans and advocates to invest in the “essential partnership” between direct care workers and family caregivers. The new brief includes insights from a variety of stakeholders ...  The result is a list of recommendations that prioritize improvements to direct care jobs.Editor's Note: Our sponsor, Composing Life Out of Loss, equips hospice and palliative care organizations with caregiver education and support video libraries to strengthen relationships between the direct care professional and the family caregiver, with timely information for the entire family. Contents are written to CMS CoPs, CAHPS, and contemporary grief research; English and Spanish.

Celebrate CNA Week Toolkit: June 13-19, 2024 NAHCA - The CNA Association; retrieved from the internet 6/14/24 This year, CNA Week is from June 13th to June 19th. With the theme of "We'll Be There For You," NAHCA created this toolkit for CNAs and for the skilled nursing centers, assisted living communities, and staffing and home health agencies they work for so that everyone can celebrate, recognize, and pay their respects to the incredible work that the nearly 1 million-strong contingent of frontline heroes does everyday for elders and people with disabilities. Editor's Note: We apologize for the late date of this notice, as it has not been showing up in our many newsfeeds. That fact illustrates how healthcare too often neglects our valued Certified Nursing Assistants. Are you doing something special to thank your CNA's? If you post something on your website to honor your CNA's, please let me know via jberger@hospicepalliativecaretoday.org. Thank you.

‘We don’t talk about death’: Winston-Salem journalist seeks to help people understand dying, deathbed visions Fox 8 WGHP - High Point, NC; by Bob Buckley; 5/29/24 There may not be anything that fascinates people more than death. It may be the thing many people avoid confronting the most. “In our culture, we’re pretty separated from death. And I don’t know the figures, but the vast majority … take place in hospitals. We don’t talk about death a lot in our culture,” said Phoebe Zerwick, a journalist based in Winston-Salem who recently wrote about deathbed visions for the New York Times Magazine. ... Zerwick became aware of the work of Dr. Christopher Kerr. ... “The biggest difference between hallucinations and these experiences is how the person is made to feel,” Dr. Kerr said. “Most hallucinations leave the person distressed and agitated and would be further confused. These experiences bring comfort. They bring meaning. They’re drawn from life. They really validate the life.” ... “I think the moral of the story is to be present and to be present with people when they are terminally ill. Be present when they’re dying,” Zerwick said.

Elder abuse is easy to missNextAvenue; by Leida Snow; 5/6/24 Here is what to look for if you suspect a caregiver--whether a relative or a professional--is mistreating a loved one. ... People are living longer in their own homes outside of nursing homes or other institutional settings, which means that at some point each of us is likely to be a caregiver or looking for continuing health care for a loved one or ourselves. ... "My husband was in home hospice for the last months of his life." ... [A bereaved caregiver describes incidents with her husband's care.]  Then I ... went to the other room and called the agency's 24-hour number. 'I want her out of here,' I said. 'Please send someone else as soon as you can.' Lou briefly rallied the next morning, but he died later that day. Did the aide hasten his death? I believe she did."

‘Ladders and lattices’ provide career opportunities for CNAs McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 4/10/24Providers would be wise to help certified nursing assistants advance in their careers, according to an article in Caring for the Ages, a publication of AMDA–The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. “One promising concept involves career ladders and lattices,” wrote Joanne Kaldy, senior contributor. “As a CNA, ladders enable you to pursue opportunities to move ‘up the ladder’ into other positions, such as licensed practical nurse (LPN), registered nurse (RN), or administrator. ..."

Top 10 patient safety threats of 2024: Helping new clinicians, maternal care barriers, AI, and more Chief Healthcare Executive, by Ron Southwick; 3/21/24 When ECRI unveiled its list of the leading threats to patient safety for 2024, some items are likely to be expected, such as physician burnout, delays in care due to drug shortages or falls in the hospital. However, ECRI, a nonprofit group focused on patient safety, placed one item atop all others: the challenges in helping new clinicians move from training to caring for patients. ... ECRI’s top 10 threats to patient safety for 2024: