Picker Institute Long-Term Care Program
The institute is dedicated to the patient-centered care movement in all healthcare settings. Predicated on the belief that quality of life in nursing homes is as important as quality of clinical care, the Picker Long-Term Care ( LTC) Program seeks new answers to the challenge of improving quality of life in LTC facilities.
Each year, Picker Institute funds grants to support LTC initiatives. The goal of the Picker LTC Program is to make resident-centered care a reality in many more LTC settings across the United States.
LTC projects underway at present include:
2009-2010 Picker Institute LTC Grants
"Achieving Staff Stability and Improving Performance: A Nursing Leaders’ Guide"
Principal investigator: Marianna Kern Grachek, MSN, CNHA, CALA, Fellow, President and CEO of American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA)
The purpose of this grant is to produce an easy-to-read book that provides tools and concepts to aid nursing home owners, administrators and leaders in achieving staff stability and in using this stability as the springboard to improve quality of care, quality of life and quality of work. Included in the book will be numerous practical “how-to” implementation strategies designed to stabilize the workforce, nurture top performers and improve employee performance. This will allow funds to be directed toward evidence-based investments in staff stability. The primary target audience will be leaders in mainstream nursing homes who are working to provide basic care in a traditional manner. The deliverable is the book. ACHCA will disseminate this work to medical directors, directors of nursing homes, consultant pharmacists, administrators and its academic partners.
“Changing the Culture of Aging: Taking a First Step to Creating Knowledgeable Consumers”
Principal Investigator: Bonnie Kantor, ScD, Executive Director, Pioneer Network
This project seeks to increase the knowledge of consumers about aging and culture change so that responsive care can be provided to both short- and long-term-stay residents in nursing homes. Packages of information will be developed and distributed to help consumers select nursing home facilities that are practicing person-centered care. The packages will be provided within small “book group” formats to community centers, churches, synagogues and civic organizations in three pilot geographic areas: Western New York, Massachusetts and Florida. Outcomes will determine the expansion of the project to other communities and states. Deliverables will be papers resulting from the project and consumer kits. Dissemination includes consumer word of mouth, local print and broadcast media coverage and regular press releases.
“Development of Tools to Improve Nursing Home Provider’s Assessment Skills”
Principal Investigator: Debra Saliba, MD, MPH, University of California, Los Angeles
In November 2002, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, began a national Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI). As part of that initiative, beginning in October 2010, nursing homes will transition into using a new MDS-3 (Minimum Data Set), a tool for implementing standardized assessment and for facilitating care management in nursing homes. This project will address the need that the 15,000 plus nursing homes in the U.S. will have in order to improve the confidence and skills of nurses when interviewing residents. It will teach them how to then integrate the information obtained from these structured validated interviews into their assessments. The deliverables/primary products for this grant will include educational training videos and teaching manuals. They will be put in the public domain for national and regional training and will be provided at no cost to CMS for their use (dissemination).
Click here to read Dr. Saliba's interim report.
“Nursing Homes as Clinical Training Sites: Recommendations to the Field”
Principal Investigator: Mathy Mezey, EdD, RN, FAAN, College of Nursing, NYU, Hartford Institute of Geriatric Nursing
The goal of this project is to develop and disseminate Recommendations to the Field on how to maximize the use of nursing homes as clinical training sites. The Recommendations will seek to improve the number, quality and preparedness of nursing and other academic health care programs using nursing homes as clinical training sites, and to improve readiness to serve as clinical training sites. The deliverable for this project will be a module to be used as a core project teaching tool for presentations. Dissemination includes presentation at three national meetings of academic nursing programs and nursing home organizations.
“Long-Term Care Improvement Guide"
Principal Investigator:Susan Frampton, President, Planetree
Following the model of the highly successful Patient-Centered Care Improvement Guide, published in October 2008, the Long-Term Care Improvement Guide will serve as a practical resource for long-term care organizations that are working to become more patient-centered. It will explore the experiences of residents, their families and their caregivers in long-term care settings across the country and highlight practices that have been developed to meet the needs of this population in an environment where expectations, preferences and priorities may be different from those in a hospital setting.
Picker Institute welcomes Letters of Inquiry to initiate the grant application process. Letters of Inquiry will be accepted on a rolling basis and will be acknowledged when they are received. Picker LTC Program staff will contact applicants if more information is required. Proposals, recommended by Picker Institute staff, will be reviewed and voted upon by the Picker Institute Board of Directors Long-Term Care Program committee.
Click here to download a Picker Institute LTC application form.
