All long term care facilities are required to have an effective immunization program that reflect current standards of practice. Receipt of vaccinations is essential to the health and well-being of long-term care residents. Influenza outbreaks place both the residents and staff at risk of infection. If your facility does have an outbreak, the CDC offers the following guidance. Flu Vaccines must be offered to patients October 1st through March 31st. Facilities are encouraged to promote 100% staff participation in flu shots to prevent outbreaks. Got to www.flu.gov for useful information and resources for your Influenza Vaccination Program. The following forms can be used for education, promotion and documentation of your facility’s Immunization Program. CLICK HERE for the CDC Long-Term Care Toolkit for valuable information. INFLUENZA VACCINE INFORMATION SHEET (English) INFLUENZA VACCINE INFORMATION SHEET (Spanish) POSTER/FLYER 65 YEARS+ (English) POSTER/FLYER 65 YEARS+ (Spanish) POSTER/FLYER HEALTHCARE WORKER (English) POSTER/FLYER HEALTHCARE WORKER (Spanish) Sample Consent Form
EFFECTIVE OCT. 1, 2018 Facilities that are found non-compliant will have their Medicare Payment reduced 2%. Drug Regimen Review Quality Measure – At the Beginning of the Stay the following questions will be asked: Did a complete drug regimen review identify potentially clinically significant medication issues? Did the facility contact the physician or designee by midnight of the nest calendar day and complete prescribed/recommended actions in response to the identified potential clinically significant medication issues? At the End of The stay the following question will be asked: Did the facility contract and complete the physician or designee prescribed/recommended actions by midnight of the next calendar day each time potential clinically significant medication issues were identified since the Admission? (This Quality Measure will affect the FY 2020 payment determination and subsequent years) Medication reconciliation is the formal process in which health care professionals partner with patients to ensure accurate and complete medication information transfer with the patient from one care level to another. Patients admitted to a hospital have a 50% chance that a medication error will occur. Many adverse drug events (ADE) occur as a result of poor communication between health care professionals and patients or caregivers when they are admitted to the hospital, change rooms within the hospital, are discharged to a skilled nursing facility and discharged home to the
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With the two high profile suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, mental health and dealing with depression was in the news. If you have a friend or family member who you think may be considering taking their own life, experts say to come right out and ask them. Contrary to scaring them, this question will come as a relief. Here are ten ways to deal with feelings of depression and isolation: Talk about feelings Eat well Keep in touch Take a break Do something you’re good at Keep active Drink sensibly Ask for help Care for others Accept who you are And if you find yourself having suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255. It is available 24 hours a day, every day.
Controlled Substances Bill Passed by Florida Legislature in 2018, the Controlled Substances Bill establishes prescribing limits, requires continuing education on controlled substance prescribing and expands required use of Florida’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, EFORCSE. New Requirements are effective July 1, 2018 PUBLIC SERVICE VIDEO Board of Pharmacy Chair, Jeenu Philip, provides Pharmacists with an overview of Florida’s Controlled Substance Bill that went into effect on July 1, 2018. The implementation for these requirements are changing daily, until all mandates and concerns are addressed. For updates and more information regarding the legislation, please visit flhealthsource.gov/FloridaTakeControl. Prescription limits for Acute Pain Prescribing practitioner may prescribe up to a 3-day supply of a Schedule II opioid for acute pain Up to 7-day supply if physician determines: More than 3-day supply is needed based on professional judgment Written indication “acute pain exception” on the prescription, AND Justification for deviating from 3-day limit is documented in patient’s medical record As defined on Florida Take Control website, “Acute pain” is the normal, predicted, physiological, and time-limited response to an adverse chemical, thermal, or mechanical stimulus associated with surgery, trauma, or acute illness. It does not include pain related to cancer, terminal conditions, pain treated with palliative care, or traumatic injuries with an Injury Severity Score of 9 or greater Prescriptions for non-acute pain If prescriber writes
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In May, 2018 a nurse working at a Wisconsin nursing home was charged with 11 felony and misdemeanor charges. The charges were: intentionally subjecting an individual at risk to abuse, theft, imitation of a controlled substance, possession of narcotic drugs and obtaining a prescription drug with fraud. According to the criminal complaint: A nurse training with the accused nurse witnessed her diverting narcotics. The nurse trainee said that when he worked with the accused nurse, patients complained of pain even after the nurse gave them their medication. But when training with other nurses, the trainee said the same residents were not complaining of pain after receiving pain medication. The accused nurse was brought into the DON office and admitted to diverting narcotics but didn’t state the amount of drugs she took or how long she had been doing it. The accused told the nursing director that she gave the narcotics to her son because he is an addict and becomes violent toward her. An investigation showed that instead of giving residents scheduled doses of hydrocodone or Percocet, the accused nurse was giving them Tylenol. The accused nurse was in charge of the narcotics cart, and all medications were signed off and dispensed by her to the nurses for administering to the patients. The Director of Nursing reported the theft to
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