Here is a picture of a nursing home administrator’s best friend.  No, not my dog!  It’s the watermelon book sitting behind him. (Although, my Boston Terrier, Maverick,  ranks right up there, too!) The Long Term Care Survey book, F-tag book, or any other name you might call it is commonly referred to as the “Watermelon Book” in our circles.  It’s called the watermelon book because of the color...

Care Plan Meetings, also called Care Conferences or IDT Meetings with the Resident and/or Family are an important part of your resident’s stay at the facility.  They are necessary to ensure that no communication has been lost and that we are answering all questions and addressing all concerns raised by the resident and/or family.  Also, getting resident and family input into the plan of care is extremely important in order to optimize...

No matter how good of a job you do personally, you’re only as good as your worst empolyee.  So, if your CNA is in a hurry and doesn’t respond to a resident’s questions in a respectful manner, or if a call light stays on for 20 minutes and your charge nurse is at the nurses station while the CNAs are busy in other rooms, or even if a dietary staff member doesn’t take the time to see if they have some tomato soup for...