A new study may have some thinking twice about their long term care options. The U.S. nursing home system must reevaluate how its facilities are designed and managed, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
Despite the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, which established resident rights and quality standards for the industry, few nursing homes have fully adopted best practices around resident-centered care, according to a survey by the New York-based health policy group.
Between February and June of 2007, the Commonwealth Fund polled 1,435 nursing homes to measure the extent in which institutions are adopting the philosophy of "culture change." That is creating an environment where seniors enjoy much of the privacy and choice they would experience if they were still living in their own homes.
In the survey, "Culture Change in Nursing Homes: How Far Have We Come?", only five percent of nursing homes report that the definition of culture change or resident-directed care "completely" describes their home. That group, plus the 25% of respondents that say their nursing home "for the most part" fits the description of a culture change, comes to a total of 31% of homes that are considered culture change adopters.
Twenty-five percent of nursing homes explain that the definition of culture change describes their facility "in a few respects" or "not at all," but leadership is "extremely" or "very" committed to adopting culture change.
The remaining 43% of facilities, traditional nursing homes, say that the definition of culture change describes their nursing home "not at all" or only "in a few respects" and the leadership is only "somewhat," "not very," or "not at all" committed to the adoption of culture change.
"The survey shows that in facilities that incorporate some aspects of culture change, the more culture change initiatives that are under way, the greater the benefits in terms of staff retention, higher occupancy rates, better competitive position and improved operational costs," researchers note.
