Hospice Management Advisor articles from January 2004

Hospice Management Advisor archives from January 2004

Florida offers a model for improving clergy training in end-of-life care: clergy get practical help in dealing with EOL issues.
January 1, 2004... A cornerstone of quality end-of-life care is its attention to matters of the spirit. In recognition of this, hospices have offered spiritual care as one of their core services. Still, clergy in the community who support members of their...

Good marketing requires good management: buy-in at the top levels is needed.(Hospice Trends)
January 1, 2004... Sometime last year I was having a conversation with a hospice marketing director about the stalled growth of the marketing director's hospice. We were discussing how a marketing plan would benefit the hospice. The marketing director agreed that...

Determine your needs before the first interview: plan ahead to find nurses who will stick with you.(Hospice Trends)
January 1, 2004... "Fire any manager who invents a new form" was one of the written responses to a survey of nurses conducted by the Bernard Hodes Group, a human resources company based in New York City. (For a copy of the full survey, go to...

Vary recruitment efforts to improve hiring process: show applicants you respect their time.(Hospice Trends)
January 1, 2004... There is no magic formula for attracting the best applicants to your agency, but using a combination of marketing tools to reach nurses with news of job openings will help you find the people you want, according to Don Richardson, vice...

To hire better, show applicants the job: getting away from the 'warm body' philosophy.(Hospice Trends)
January 1, 2004... It took about 18 months of hard work, but staff at the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Southeast Michigan in Oak Park found the solution to a recruitment and retention problem that made the agency look like a revolving door for registered...

Do sacred cows still graze in your agency? Evaluate rituals with eye to profitability, efficiency.(Hospice Trends)
January 1, 2004... They still graze in and around your agency, but an increasing number of home health managers are starting to look critically at "sacred cows" that need to be put out to pasture. Sacred cows are rituals, beliefs, or guidelines that are...

Study: caregivers suffer long-term effects of stress: caregivers' IL-6 levels were four times higher.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... A study of caregivers suggest that the effects of chronic stress resulting from caring for a dying family member may last for years. As part of a long-term study examining stress and health in older caregivers, scientists at The Ohio State...

New neuropathic pain guidelines published: guidelines recommend lidocaine patch.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... New pain management guidelines for treating patients with chronic neuropathic pain were published in the November issue of Archives of Neurology (2003; 60:1,524-1,534). The evidence-based guidelines are designed to help physicians better...

Study shows caregivers overestimate pain: caregivers need training in pain assessment.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... A study conducted by the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida in Tampa shows that caregivers often overestimate their sick family member's pain. (1) As health care increasingly moves out of hospitals, care of patients with...

RWJF announces funding of leadership centers: six institutions to provide palliative care training.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has announced that RWJF is committing $4.5 million to increase the availability of palliative care in hospitals throughout the...

CMS rolls out its quality initiative.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... Home Health Compare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) national quality initiative for home health agencies became active, took effect in November. Home Health Compare's pilot test began in May 2003, and includes...

FDA approves new Alzheimer's drug.(News From the End of Life)
January 1, 2004... The Food and Drug Administration has approved memantine, a drug sold in Germany for many years, as the first treatment designed specifically for late stages of Alzheimer's disease U.S. marketer Forest Laboratories will sell memantine here...