ANNUAL CONFERENCE RECAP | 2018
Putting Comforts in Your Care Plan for
the Person Living with Dementia
In the closing session, What a Palliative Approach to Dementia
Care Can Do for Your Organization, Donny Tuchman, chief
operating officer, Cobble Hill Health Center, and Ann Wyatt,
manager, palliative & residential care, CaringKind (formerly,
Alzheimer’s Association, NYC Chapter) began the presentation
with a suggestion: substitute the words you use when you refer to
your patients. By replacing the word “behaviors” with “distress”
you shift your mindset, and that of your staff, as you work with
residents. When you say, “Mary is exhibiting signs of distress.” You
can become the detective trying to alleviate her distress instead of
the caregiver trying to manage her behavior.
Donny and Ann provided proven organizational strategies for
implementation of this approach and asked audience members
to be detectives looking for opportunities to discover discomfort
in patients with dementia. Using their established approach can
significantly improve patient quality of life, reduce the use of
antipsychotics, reduce preventable hospitalizations and ER visits,
improve quality measures, improve staff turnover and overall staff
commitment.
The focus of the session was on identifyi ng the well-researched,
effective palliative practices and processes which are consistent
with Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) priorities
for dementia care overall, as well as with their new Dementia
Survey process. These practices and processes have implications for
regulatory outcomes and the 5-Star Rating system.
Ann and Donny reminded the audience that putting comfort
measures in your care plan will improve both the resident
experience and your bottom line.
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