Describes the Merit Gram, an alternative to tipping, which was devised to give nursing home residents and their families the opportunity to acknowledge staff and to give staff, in turn, the recognition they needed. Discusses the effectiveness of the Merit Gram in reinforcing the no tipping policy while providing an alternative means of…

Compared mortality rates for residents who transferred rooms within long-term care facility for reasons other than health (N=207) and for residents who did not move (N=353). Found mortality rates higher for moderately competent residents who moved than for non-movers; mortality rates for movers of high or low competence did not differ from those…

Considers informed consent standard inadequate for insuring autonomy in long term care. Argues for complex standard of "negotiated consent." Illuminates philosophical argument by qualitative data from interviews with physicians, nurses, and social workers in nursing homes, which demonstrated continuum of interventions ranging from…

There is a trend toward viewing activities as an integral part of basic care in the nursing home, although the setting is extremely challenging to the recreation service provider. This article discusses nursing home personnel, assessment of residents' needs, activities, programs, and future directions of nursing home recreation. (MT)

Describes the Teaching Nursing Home Program that links nursing schools with nursing homes, pooling personnel and resources for the benefit of the institutions and society. The program seeks to extend to nursing homes the benefits that have been enjoyed by hospitals because of educational and service linkages with schools of medicine and nursing.…

This article discusses death education and gives an example of an "adopted grandparents" program, where young children adopt the residents of a nursing home and learn about death through honest discussion of their experiences. (MS)

Points out health hazards in some art materials, which may pollute the air, contaminate food and utensils, produce flammable vapors, cause chemical burns or allergic reactions, or damage the eyes. Suggests how these hazards may be compounded in nursing homes or senior citizens' agencies. Lists safety tips. (SJL)

Describes the alcohol-related policies, practices, and problems experienced by a sample of intermediate care facilities and homes for elderly people. Despite the problems reported, screening for alcohol problems among residents, treatment of identified problems, and training of staff were not found to be widespread. Challenges to social workers…

Estimated length of stay (LOS) for elderly nursing home patients. Converted discharges from 1985 National Nursing Home Survey into admission cohort and adding reported immediate previous nursing home LOS to surveyed LOS. Ultimate length of aggregated stay was longer than unaggregated estimates for elderly discharged residents. Mean aggregated stay…

Estimated impoverishment risk for two samples of community-living elderly (N=900+). Found that for elders over age 75, 46 percent of those living alone and 2 percent of couples would spend lifetime assets and current income, becoming impoverished in 13 weeks if institutionalized in skilled nursing facility. Rates were comparable for elders over…

Using data from 1981-82 Channeling Demonstration project, examined types of health care costs (hospital, physician and ancillary care, nursing home, and prescription medicine) that contributed to overall expenses to determine sources of financially catastrophic health care expenses among disabled elderly persons. Found expenses for prescription…

Examined consequences of institutionalization for 555 caregivers of dementia patients. Consistent with stress process model, institutionalization was hypothesized to have large impact on primary effects of caregiving and lesser influence on secondary effects and well-being. Following placement, caregivers experienced relief from primary effects of…

Describes development, implementation, and evaluation of a model abuse prevention curriculum designed for nursing assistants. Findings from the evaluation are presented that showed high satisfaction with the program and improvement on a number of indicators, including reduced conflict with and abuse of residents. (Author)

As part of 5-state study of impact of special care units for demented residents, surveyed approximately 2,000 nursing homes to identify facilities that maintained some form of special care unit. Estimated prevalence of such units was 11 percent, suggesting that special care units are far more numerous than had previously been reported. (Author/NB)

Interviewed nursing assistants (n=40) and nursing facility residents (n=37) regarding ways they experienced respect, disrespect, attachment, and distancing in their relationships with each other. As a result of finding evidence of disrespect, an inservice session on gaining respect as a nursing assistant was presented. (ABL)