Nursing home companies each have their own version of how a morning meeting is supposed to be run.  The format is usually put together by a clinician or by someone who just doesn’t have the right kind of exerience needed for this task.  As a result, I have found most morning meeting formats to be unacceptable and lacking in basic, necessary information. You also have some old school administrators who will tell you that no morning...

Is your physician putting you out of compliance by not visiting their patients timely?  It’s pretty common for nursing homes to have to remind their docs several times that it’s time to see their nursing home patients.  Many physicians get so busy with their own practices, they simply put the nursing home on the back burner. This is something you must keep on top of.  Usually, this task is assigned to the Medical Records...

Oftentimes, when a facility has had survey issues or turnover in leadership, employee morale also suffers.  One nice little tool that can drastically improve morale in your facility is the Thank You note. You should attempt to create an atmosphere of not just catching people doing something but catching people doing something right.  There are several ways to do this.  Obviously, one is to make rounds and observe.  Secondly, you can...

I typically don’t hire individuals with special schedule needs.  It never fails that when a facility is desperate for CNAs, housekeepers, dietary staff members, etc., we see many employees hired that have only special times and days that they can work.  Typically, you hear something like: “Well, I have class on Tuesday nights, so I can’t work Tuesdays.  And, I can’t work weekends because I have no one to watch my...

If you have recently accepted a new facility, one of the first things you need to do is review their discharge policy and the discharge letter/notification they are using - if they are using one at all. Many facilities do not have a standard template for an involuntary discharge letter.  When they do send a letter, it is usually generated by the Business Office Manager or Social Services Director who usually hasn’t had access to and...

One of the most difficult things I had to learn early on in my career is to control my emotions.  Emotional control, emotional maturity, whatever you want to call it, is one of the single most important things that will determine your success or failure.  I firmly believe that it was the realization of this fact early on that helped propel me toward success. How many times has one of your staff members brought you some information on...