Monitoring is a critical part of a service coordinator’s relationship with members and residents. Thank you all for sharing tips on how you continuously engage with clients over time. It would be terrific to generate a list of helpful probing questions to aid in the ongoing assessment of how members/residents are doing in the monitoring phase. Please comment!
Archive | Reference Information RSS feed for this section
Trouble Shooting AASC Online Glitches
Answer:
Pangea says when this kind of problem happens, we should send them a screen print (push PrtScn on the keyboard). (Then open word, I use Control v, save it, email Pangea, include the screen print as an attachment.) Then, Pangea can look up that incidence and trouble shoot.
Yours,
Karen Baker
Question:
When I enter the time spent in the service log, the time changes and shows as 1 minute or negative 1 minute, when I go to print it. I noticed it, the end of last week. Today, I had to reenter and save a service log to register as 20 minutes, I entered it several times.
SC Conference Call Notes 4-18-13
Attached are the notes from 4-18-13.
Bed Rest Study with Professor Voyko Kavcic, Ph. D.
This week my supervisor (Alexa Lempert) and I were fortunate to be able to attend a seminar at the Institute of Gerontology as part of their Professional Development Series. Professor Voyko Kavcic, Ph. D., of the University of Primorska in Slovenia, presented initial findings of “A Bed Rest Study with 55-65 Year Olds”.
The application to the senior population suggests that long-term inactivity due to illness or lack of resources has detrimental consequences. This study has shown that that challenging cognitive activity during these times can have positive psychological effects as well as quicker rehabilitation and return to everyday activity and independence.
Horizontal bed rest studies were conducted over a two-week period to resemble the effects of long-term post-operative immobilization and sedentary lifestyles. This model could also be applied to physical inactivity and aging studies. The study had both pros and cons; researchers had 24/7 control of the external environment and control over food intake and physical activity. Negative aspects included prohibitive costs to the hospital conducting the study, paying of staff, the study was labor intensive, and IRB would likely not approve citing safety and coercion concerns.
Pre and post-test measurements of all participants included blood and urine tests, EEG, EKG, muscle diameter, gait, balance, cognition, and endothelial dilation. All study participants had to agree to rehabilitation and reconditioning immediately following the study.
Participants were divided into two separate groups. While in bed, Group 1 did 50 minutes of cognitive training at the 2nd and 13th days, using the Virtual Navigation Task program. This is a series of virtual mazes which requires adaptive thinking. Group 2 watched the Discovery Channel.
Initial findings suggest that Group 1, who had the cognitive training during the bed rest period, had improved post-test gait performance and peripheral blood circulation, compared to Group 2 who were only required to watch the Discovery Channel. The findings also suggest that cognitive training or cognitive activity has a preventative effect on the negative outcomes of prolonged immobilization and sedentary lifestyles.
On average, participants who had 2 weeks of total bed rest required 28 days of physical reconditioning, which leads one to assume that longer periods of inactivity will lead to even longer efforts toward rehabilitation
Keeping tabs on Logisticare
If any of your clients are experiencing trouble with Logisticare, feel free to use this chart to help them keep track of the problems, in case they want to make a complaint.
Sample ISP
By admin on April 16, 2013 in Initial Service Plan Templates, Reference Information, Templates for Documentation
Hi All,
This was a group activity during new SC orientation. The group produced a sample Initial Service Plan that Alexa typed up. See attached!
Initial Service Plan
SC met with member in the office requesting assistance with grooming, transportation, and emergency food assistance. Confidentiality forms and consent to release information forms were signed by member.
Intake, ADL, and individual, assessments were completed in the office, as member felt more comfortable meeting in this venue. Member requires assistance with the following ADLs: grooming (fixing hair) and transportation. Member’s daughter typically assists with these needs, but daughter is out of town at this time. Member is considered at risk based on this assessment.
1) SC will support member with identifying resources for assistance with grooming within 1 week.
- Member will identify other family members who may be able to assist with her grooming.
2) SC will support member with identifying and coordinating emergency food assistance within 1 day.
3) SC and member will discuss and identify resources for transportation to assist with grocery shopping within 1 week.
4) SC will assist member with obtaining a replacement Bridge Card within 1 week.
- SC will provide member with contact information to request a replacement card.
5) Next SC appointment is scheduled Tuesday.
6) SC will continue to monitor and assess member’s needs every 30 days, or as needed.
A.L. 3/13/13
Elderly Patients Routinely Prescribed Risky Drugs
Good article from the New York Times relevant to last week’s professional development training on medication misuse. Also see Camille’s post for the listing of medications older adults should avoid.
Doctors in the United States routinely prescribe potentially harmful drugs to older patients, and the problem is particularly acute in the South, a new study shows.
The analysis found that more than one in five seniors on Medicare in the South were prescribed medications that health authorities have specifically advised doctors to avoid giving to older patients because of their severe side effects. Compared with people 65 and older living in New England, those living in the southern region from Texas to South Carolina were about 12 percent more likely to be prescribed a high-risk medication.
The researchers suspected that factors like education, socioeconomic status and access to quality medical care might be driving some of the regional differences. And to some extent, that appeared to be the case. As socioeconomic status grew lower, for example, the likelihood of being prescribed a high-risk drug increased. But even after accounting for these factors, the researchers found that the disparity persisted.
“We can’t specifically identify the reason the southern states have these rates that are so much higher,” said Dr. Amal Trivedi, an author of the study and an assistant professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. “But I think it’s important for physicians and patients to be aware of it.”
Dr. Trivedi and his colleagues published their findings in the latest issue of The Journal of General Internal Medicine. For the study, they referred to a list of 110 drugs to avoid in the elderly, compiled by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Many of the drugs are widely used, often with few or moderate side effects in younger patients, but their risks are magnified in the elderly.
On the list are anti-anxiety medications like Valium. The drug, a benzodiazepine, can be harder for elderly patients to metabolize, resulting in the drug staying in their systems for longer periods of time. That can lead to prolonged sedation, and in turn potentially deadly falls and fractures. Because of their side effects and potential to cause addiction, benzodiazepines are not usually recommended for the elderly. But when used as a last resort, there are relatively safer, short-acting alternatives, said the lead author of the study, Danya Qato, a pharmacist and doctoral candidate in health services research at Brown.
Several muscle relaxants and diabetes medications can also remain in elderly patients’ systems for longer periods, causing a higher rate of complications.
“We started this study because we know that these medications are likely to have more harms than benefits in older patients,” Dr. Trivedi said. “We have tried to reduce the use of these medications, and it’s important to figure out exactly how common they are among the elderly and what types of factors contribute to their use.”
The researchers looked at data on more than six million older men and women from across the country who were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Over all, they found that 1.3 million of those seniors, or roughly one in five, had been prescribed at least one high-risk medication in 2009 even though many of the drugs had safer substitutes. About 5 percent of the seniors in the study had been prescribed at least two medications from the list.
The city with the most alarming rate was Albany, Ga., where nearly 40 percent of seniors on Medicare had received a prescription for a high-risk drug. The city with the highest rate of seniors receiving at least two high-risk prescriptions was Alexandria, La.
The simultaneous use of multiple medications, a phenomenon known as polypharmacy, is a growing problem among seniors. According to other research, the average person over 65 takes at least four prescription drugs — a practice that can lead to dangerous and unexpected interactions. Adverse effects brought on by the combination of multiple drugs are thought to be responsible for nearly a third of all hospital admissions.
“Polypharmacy is a major public health problem,” Dr. Trivedi said. “Sometimes less is more, particularly for the elderly.”
Ms. Qato said it was unclear why doctors in the South were more prone to prescribing the blacklisted drugs to their older patients and it could be that patients were simply more likely to ask for them. Either way, she said, doctors and patients should be aware of them.
“These lists are readily available on the Internet,” she said. “The take-home message for patients is to take ownership of your medications and to regularly review them with your pharmacists or physicians.”
Source:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/older-patients-too-often-prescribed-risky-drugs/?src=rechp
By Anahad O’Connor
Finding DHS Contacts On-line
Answer:
If you go to State of Michigan site
http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,4669,7-192-29701—,00.html
and go to the bottom of the page, there is a “contacts” list, and you can do employee lookup that way. I have found it is best to use a last name and first letter/asterisk (Wilson, K*) even if you know the first name of the employee.
If you have the client’s birthdate and SSN, you can also call the automated MiBridges line at 888-642-7434 and find worker information using that system.
– From Kari Wilson
Question:
How do you find DHS Worker and Supervisor index online?
Language of Eldercare Dictionary
Note: The following resource is HUGE (993 pages). However, there are good imbedded links for navigation.
Anyone in the field of aging knows it has its own unique language. Understanding all the shifting terms, however, can be a challenge. At 95, Walter Feldesman, a prominent New York attorney, has released the third edition of his Dictionary of Eldercare Terminology, and he’s making it available free exclusively through NCOA.
http://www.ncoa.org/assets/files/pdf/Eldercare-Dictionary_Feldesman.pdf?utm_source=NCOAWeek_130409&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=NCOAWeek
Labelle Co-op SC Newsletter
Hi All,
I’ve attached one of the Labelle Co-op SC Newsletters. The members, Liaison and Sheila have all received this very well.
Thanks Victoria and Diane for sharing.