Transforming Long-Term Care
<p>Many Americans dread nursing homes. They don't see their parent or grandparent moving to a new home that will meet her special needs; they simply see her being institutionalized.<br><br>However, as a new <a href="/cnlib/pub/enews_clickthrough.htm?enews_item_id=21711&return_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecmwf%2Eorg%2Fpublications%2Fpublications%5Fshow%2Ehtm%3Fdoc%5Fid%3D365728%26%23doc365728">Commonwealth Fund feature article,</a> <a href="/usr_doc/site_docs/flash/slideshow_culturechange.html">slide show,</a> and <a href="/topics/topics_show.htm?doc_id=372482">video overview</a> demonstrate, the picture is changing. While some nursing homes remain impersonal and regimented, over the last decade, a grassroots movement in long-term care known as "culture change," or "resident-centered care," has begun to spread throughout the country.<br><br>Seniors in nursing homes that are practicing culture change enjoy the same privacy and choice they would experience if they were still living in their own homes. Such nursing homes have also undergone organizational restructuring that gives direct care staff, such as nurse aids, more autonomy. Moreover, most decisions are made through collaboration between staff and residents.<br><br>Find out what is driving culture change--and how more and more nursing homes are transforming into places residents can truly call "home."</p>
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletters/ealerts/2006/apr/transforming-long-term-care