The fourth volume in the prestigious Advances in Long-Term Care Series continues to address the challenges of long-term care with innovation and practical insight. Highlighting the dynamic nature of long-term care, the authors share their practical insight and explore issues linked to the cost and process of delivering care to an increasing number of clients. Topics include transitions between acute and long-term care, geriatric day hospitals, subacute care, and more. Contributors from a range of gerontologic disciplines use new research as bases to develop care solutions under the mandates of managed care.
Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.
Over the last two decades, many changes have happened to the social welfare policies of various industrial countries. Citizens have seen their pensions, unemployment benefits, and general healthcare policies shrink as “belt tightening” measures are enforced. But in contrast, long-term care has seen a general growth in public financing, an expansion of beneficiaries, and, more generally, an attempt to define larger social responsibilities and related social rights. The aim of this book is to describe and interpret the changes introduced in long-term care policies in Western Europe. The volume argues that recent reforms have brought about an increasing convergence in LTC policies. Most of the new programs have developed a new general approach to long-term care, based on a better integration of social care and health care. The book explores increasing public support given to family care work (in the past, the family would take care of the elderly or infirm) and increasing growth and recognition of a extended social care market (by which care has shifted from a moral obligation based on family reciprocity to a paid, professional activity). A new social care arrangement has therefore been developing in Western countries, based on a new mix of family obligations, market provision, and public support. In order to understand such changes, this analysis will take into account the social and economical impact of these reforms.
"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
"Population aging is challenging countries around the globe to adapt their public policy responses to the new world. Long-term care is a relevant topic today both because of the rapid growth in long-term care needs in every country and the lack of responses from governments. The Future of Long-term Care explores some issues related to the implementation of long-term care responses in different countries. Looking at six different cases, the book highlights the need to foster an urgent debate in the area, as well as emphasizing the need for action in the coming years. The examples analyzed show common problems faced by countries trying to respond to their people's needs, as well as the dissimilar stages, contexts, and paths followed by each one in the endeavour for providing long-term care services to the population. Whether the analysis is carried out in countries with well-established long-term care systems or in places where the debate is just starting, the book proves that this is an area in which many challenges remain. Learning lessons from others is important but providing a space for countries to frame their problems and propose their solutions is crucial. This book contributes to fill this gap and contribute to a debate that is just starting in many places around the world"--
An in-depth analysis of the nursing home industry in America -- its past, present, and future. It focuses on the business aspects of the industry, and provides a detailed examination of the main issues concerning all nursing homes -- trends in health care expenditures; the legislative history of the industry; growing demand for care and how to measure it; the present structure of the industry; funding and financing concerns; government regulation; inter-industry competition and opportunities for growth; global comparisons; and public policy considerations.
"This book grapples with some of the most significant issues in long-term care today--that is, becoming more explicit about what should be meant by terms like 'quality of care' and 'quality of Life.'" --Rosalie A. Kane, DSW, University of Minnesota "A major resource for all concerned about improving the future for the long-term handicapped." --Robert Morris, DSW This volume will strengthen our understanding of the relationship between providing care to the elderly and improving their quality of life. The contributors examine areas where systems can be improved from design to delivery. Specific topics include: enhancement of the self, efforts of regulatory and accrediting bodies to improve care, methods for evaluating quality, and implementing a holistic approach to care, among others. This book remains essential reading for professionals involved in long term care including assisted living and nursing home administrators, gerontologists, geriatricians, geriatric nurses, and social workers.
Winner of an AJN Book of the Year Award! Nursing homes are rich repositories of data, yet are underutilized for controlled research studies. This book is a hands-on guide to conducting long-term care research in both nursing homes and home care settings. It offers an overview of possible research in the field along with practical information on how to gain access to and work with complex institutions that may not welcome change. The author also suggests the most effective research methodology for long-term care settings, and how to implement and disseminate successful research.
Over the decades, the fields of health information systems and informatics have seen rapid growth. Such integrative efforts within the two disciplines have resulted in emerging innovations within the realm of medicine and healthcare. The Handbook of Research on Emerging Perspectives on Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics provides emerging research on the innovative practices of information systems and informatic software in providing efficient, safe, and impactful healthcare systems. While highlighting topics such as conceptual modeling, surveillance data, and decision support systems, this handbook explores the applications and advancements in technological adoption and application of information technology in health institutions. This publication is a vital resource for hospital administrators, healthcare professionals, researchers, and practitioners seeking current research on health information systems in the digital era.
The number of elderly and disabled adults who require assistance with day-to-day activities is expected to double over the next twenty-five years. As a result, direct care workers such as home care aides and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) will become essential to many more families. Yet these workers tend to be low-paid, poorly trained, and receive little respect. Is such a workforce capable of addressing the needs of our aging population? In Who Will Care for Us? economist Paul Osterman assesses the challenges facing the long-term care industry. He presents an innovative policy agenda that reconceives direct care workers’ work roles and would improve both the quality of their jobs and the quality of elder care. Using national surveys, administrative data, and nearly 120 original interviews with workers, employers, advocates, and policymakers, Osterman finds that direct care workers are marginalized and often invisible in the health care system. While doctors and families alike agree that good home care aides and CNAs are crucial to the well-being of their patients, the workers report poverty-level wages, erratic schedules, exclusion from care teams, and frequent incidences of physical injury on the job. Direct care workers are also highly constrained by policies that specify what they are allowed to do on the job, and in some states are even prevented from simple tasks such as administering eye drops. Osterman concludes that broadening the scope of care workers’ duties will simultaneously boost the quality of care for patients and lead to better jobs and higher wages. He proposes integrating home care aides and CNAs into larger medical teams and training them as “health coaches” who educate patients on concerns such as managing chronic conditions and transitioning out of hospitals. Osterman shows that restructuring direct care workers’ jobs, and providing the appropriate training, could lower health spending in the long term by reducing unnecessary emergency room and hospital visits, limiting the use of nursing homes, and lowering the rate of turnover among care workers. As the Baby Boom generation ages, Who Will Care for Us? demonstrates the importance of restructuring the long-term care industry and establishing a new relationship between direct care workers, patients, and the medical system.
