Hospital Home Health articles from December 2003

Hospital Home Health archives from December 2003

Determine what you want in a nurse before holding the first interview: plan ahead to identify best traits for nurses who will stick with you.
December 1, 2003... "Fire any manager who invents a new form" was one of the written responses to a survey of nurses conducted by Bernard Hodes Group, a human resources company based in New York City. (For a copy of the full survey, go to...

Recruiting: if they don't understand job, show them: getting away from the warm body philosophy.
December 1, 2003... It took about 18 months of hard work, but the staff at Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Southeast Michigan in Oak Park found the solution to the recruitment and retention problem that made the agency look like a revolving door for registered...

Vary recruitment efforts to improve hiring process.
December 1, 2003... 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...

Telemedicine funds: know where to look for grants? Focus on new approaches, serving more patients.
December 1, 2003... (Editor's note: This is the second installment of a two-part series that looks at telemedicine in home health. In the last issue, representatives from two agencies described their programs and specific issues related to choosing technology and...

Do sacred cows still graze in your agency? Evaluate rituals with eye to profitability.
December 1, 2003... They still graze in and around your agency, but 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...

Avoid negligence charges with adequate supervision.(LegalEase: understanding laws, rules, regulations)
December 1, 2003... Home care is different from institutional care in a number of ways. One crucial difference is field staff members essentially are working without direct supervision on a routine basis. The cost of providing direct supervision for staff as...

HIPAA Q & A.
December 1, 2003... [Editor's note: This periodic column addresses specific questions related to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) implementation. If you have questions, please send them to Sheryl Jackson, Hospital Home Health, American...

CMS rolls out its quality initiative.
December 1, 2003... Nov. 3, 2003, marked the first day that Home Health Compare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) national quality initiative for home health agencies became active. Home Health Compare's pilot test began in May 2003, and...

FDA approves new Alzheimer's drug.
December 1, 2003... The Food and Drug Administration has proved memantine, a drug sold in Germany for many years, and the first treatment designed specifically for late stages of Alzheimer's disease. U.S. marketer Forest Laboratories will sell memantine here...

Study shows caregivers often overestimate pain.
December 1, 2003... A study conducted by the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida in Tampa, shows that caregivers often believe their family member is in greater pain that the patient feels.(1) As health care increasingly moves out of...

CE questions.
December 1, 2003... For more information about the CE program, contact customer service at (800) 688-2421. 9. According to Coleen Conway-Svec, RN, MS, MBA, chief operating officer of the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Michigan, why did so many of her...