33 homes gear up for a new quality initiative Thirty-three of the state's nursing homes are participating in a three-year initiative to improve both quality of care and organizational performance. The national program is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and will be coordinated in Washington state by Qualis Health. Working closely with Qualis Health, participating nursing homes will design, implement, and measure the effects of changes intended to improve each of the following target areas: - Reducing the prevalence of pain, pressure ulcers, depression symptoms, and physical restraint use - Improving the quality of life for nursing home residents, and quality of the working experience for nursing home staff (with a particular focus on reducing nursing assistants' annual turnover rate) "The initiative holds great promise for improving life and work in our state's nursing homes," Susan Hausmann, Qualis Health's project director, said. "Not only will the participants be rewarded for their hard work, but all nursing homes across the state should benefit as we share the lessons learned." Look for updates about the progress of this initiative, and how you might be able to apply new methods to your nursing home's care or staff plans, in future editions of Nursing Home Advance. Local homes share successes at national session Staff from Liberty Country Place, Centralia, and Pinewood Terrace Nursing Center, Colville, were invited to speak about their recent successes at the national Improving Nursing Home Culture through the Person-Directed Care Model Outcomes Congress held in Rhode Island. Both homes were hard-working participants in the national person-directed care pilot project, which supported nursing homes in implementing policies based on the visions of the Eden Alternative, Pioneer Network, and Wellspring Institute. Goals included developing policies to place power, control, and choice in the hands of residents and front line staff. Both nursing homes successfully identified and changed policies which—while reasonable from an "institutional" viewpoint—did little to make life better for residents or staff. Liberty Country Place shared their experiences in changing the residents' bathing regimen. Residents are now empowered to set their own bathing schedule and choose whether they would prefer to undress in their rooms or in the shower room. The facility transformed the formerly stark shower room with more home-like decor (including personal storage spaces) and also ensured greater privacy by allowing just one attendant and one resident in the bathroom at a time. For more detail about this transition, and other person-directed changes implemented at Liberty Country Place, see the January 7, 2006 edition of The Chronicle Newspaper. Pinewood Terrace Nursing Center described their efforts to limit nighttime disturbances of residents' sleep. The facility switched to eight-hour incontinence products‹which not only decreased the amount of soiled laundry (and noisy laundry cart deliveries), but also reduced the number of resident falls during the night. These changes resulted in a more peaceful night and happier, more rested residents during the day. Register today! Culture change leader to speak in Yakima & Seattle David Farrell, MSW, LNHA, the former CEO of Wellspring Institute, will explore potential barriers (and corresponding solutions) to implementing staff morale and retention programs during an upcoming workshop entitled "Caring Produces Results." Through these sessions, you will learn about the: - Recommended methods for fostering staff relations, enhancing morale, and creating workforce stability - Model programs used to support lower wage employees - Dynamics of including both frontline caregivers and leaders in problem-solving sessions - Leaders' mindset in nursing homes with low staff turnover  The Yakima event will be held April 5 and the Seattle workshop on May 23. For event details and registration, go to www.qualishealth.org/qi-washington/nursing-homes/calendar.cfm. PBS special report on nursing home culture change airs March 2 Learn how local nursing homes have overcome barriers and improved the quality of life for elders, their families, and staff in "Brave New Home—Changing the Culture of Nursing Home Care." Hosted by Enrique Cerna, the program features three facilities that have made significant changes to their culture by implementing person-directed care. The program also includes thoughtful discussions about elder care and how we view aging in our culture. The program will air on KCTS (a Seattle-area PBS station) at 9:00PM Thursday, March 2, 2006 and is sponsored by Qualis Health. A companion resource guide will be available on the Qualis Health website.