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Reports & Initiatives

FastFacts: Resources for Nursing Home Professionals

December 2007

FastFacts were designed to provide nursing home professionals with timely and highly relevant information they can use to develop clinical skills and improve organizational practices. The ultimate goal is to improve the quality of care in long-term facilities.

The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) held a focus group with nursing homes experts to select FastFacts topics most crucial for nursing home administrators, directors of nursing, and directors of staff development.

FastFacts were researched and written by experts in nursing home quality and operations. Each edition was reviewed by nursing home professionals to ensure that it captures the most relevant evidence available on a topic. The pieces are concise and offer resources for further information.

CHCF publishes FastFacts aimed at these four audiences:

1. Care Teams. These topics cut across key players and roles in a facility. Editions discuss coordinating care transitions; depression management; leadership skills; performance appraisals; staff retention; and understanding nursing home quality data.
2. Directors of Nursing. Topics include clinical issues such as dementia care; medication safety; end-of-life care planning; fall prevention; geriatric care; protocols for notifying physicians about abnormal lab results; and documenting pressure ulcers.
3. Directors of Staff Development. Topics include creating a learning organization; developing cultural competence; new staff orientations; interactive teaching strategies; role playing; and state funding for employee training.
4. Administrators. Editions discuss admission screening procedures; the benefits of consistent assignment; changing the culture to support patients and staff; improving customer service; and becoming a restraint-free facility.

Twenty-six FastFacts were published throughout 2006 and 2007.

FastFacts provide educational information. This information is not medical, legal, or management advice. Long-term care providers should exercise their own independent judgment when adapting or adopting this information to their settings.