HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsTackle all the challenges of practitioner directory management within a health plan with a single solution tailored to your specific needs.
View All ProductsOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreFew people, especially those within healthcare, are unaware that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the nursing home and long-term care areas of the care continuum harder than anywhere else. The skilled nursing environment has, unfortunately, become a place where COVID-19 is easily transferred between patients, residents, family members, and staff, necessitating lockdowns, the prohibition of visitors, and elimination of resident gatherings. While some measures have been successful in preventing additional widespread infection and loss of life, there are inherent challenges for this care environment in the face of a pandemic. According to a recent media briefing about nursing facilities and the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke University eldercare experts emphasized that “Nursing homes will continue to be COVID-19 hotspots until state and federal officials can institute sweeping testing of asymptomatic patients and workers.”
This blog post is the fourth in our series based on the HealthStream article, 10 Considerations for COVID-19 and Long-Term Care, which examines specific considerations and recommendations to improve the prospects for people living in this long term care, offered by three Duke experts in the eldercare and public policy space.
Dementia Presents a Unique Challenge During Covid-19.
For patients and residents experiencing dementia, the behavior modifications required for COVID-19 are a significant obstacle. Almost everything related to this population is made more difficult by measures to combat the disease. For example, “As a part of the brain disease, there’s often difficulty in communicating, understanding instructions that other people give you, or remembering about things like hand-washing or social distancing,” according to Eleanor McConnell, an associate professor at the Duke University School of Nursing. Working with dementia patients often includes a strong reliance on non-verbal cues related to touch, direction, tone of voice, and facial expressions. Masks impede this process.
Another issue raised by McConnell is unwitting emotional contagion as anxiety is spread from staff to patients. She adds, “I think if staff are anxious and fraught, there’s likely to be some transmission of that emotion to others. I know from talking to my colleagues in acute care, as they’ve become more comfortable with managing COVID-19… their anxiety has come down. So, there’s part of me that’s hopeful that this can get better.” Caregivers need to continually educate themselves on how to care for people suffering from dementia, especially those continuing to rely on routines plays an important part in making these residents feel more comfortable and secure.
About the Experts
Nathan Boucher is an Assistant Research Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke. He studies patients’ and caregivers’ experiences and expectations of health care delivery during advanced illness and near the end of life.
Eleanor Schildwachter McConnell is an Associate Professor at the Duke University School of Nursing. She studies factors that influence functional decline in very frail older adults. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Donald Taylor is a Professor of Public Policy who researches aging and comparative health systems, including Medicare, long-term care, and health policy. Taylor also directs Duke’s Social Science Research Center.
Lifelong Learners Make the Greatest Caregivers
Ensuring your caregivers are prepared for anything means everything. At HealthStream, we believe in improving clinical and business outcomes by first investing in the people on the front lines. Together, let’s strengthen our approach to improve the quality of healthcare. Elevate your people, optimize your outcomes. Learn more about our workforce development solutions for assisted living and long-term care.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All Products