Introduction
This paper is supposed to report on the most recent health surveys that have been carried out at the Northern Cochise Nursing Home, both by the state and federal health agencies. However, the only recent report identified was for a state inspection carried out on 17th august 2010. There was no record of an inspection carried out by the state. Thus the paper will analyze the findings of the state survey in terms of the deficiencies identified. The paper will also identify whether the deficiency has been corrected or not.
Deficiencies identified
The most recent state health inspection survey on the Northern Cochise nursing home was conducted on 17 August 2010. In the inspection, deficiencies were identified in the following areas.
Table 1: Health inspection report conducted by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Correction of the above identified deficiencies
Following the findings of the health inspection carried out by Arizona Department of Health Services, the management of the Northern Cochise Nursing home took immediate steps to correct the deficiencies. The hospital worked out a plan to ensure that there was a registered nurse present at the Nursing home for at least 8 hours a day for 7 days a week (Arizona Department of Health Services). This is important because the residents are in most cases elderly individuals who are afflicted by several conditions. Thus the presence of a registered nurse ensures that standardized guidelines to guard against development and worsening of the disease (ANCC Certification).
Regarding the deficiency on informing patients about their health status, the nursing home took appropriate steps to ensure that all residents are promptly informed about their current health status. Such information is not only important from the legal aspect alone, its also vital for the resident’s to plan, especially because they are responsible for their own upkeep (Vahakangas and Noro 30).
The finding that the nursing home was not safeguarding resident’s money in their custody was rather unfortunate since it has the potential to compromise the trust that exists between the administration and the residents. The nursing home’s management took appropriate steps to correct the mismanagement. However, the additional laws in the state of Arizona stipulate that residents should manage their own finances, and incase they deposit the money with the nursing home they shod ask for regular accounting statements regarding the funds (Northern Cochise Nursing Home ).
The last violation was identified regarding the dissemination of information regarding the availability of assistance from Medicaid. The additional laws by the state of Arizona require all Nursing homes to ensure that they inform all patients who are eligible or may require assistance from Medicare about the availability of the services. The Cochise Nursing home was found to have violated this requirement and thus was tasked to correct the deficiency. The Nursing home took quick and prompt measure to ensure that the residents are promptly informed about the Medicaid services (Vahakangas and Noro 31).
The survey was carried out on 17th August 2010 and all the corrections had been undertaken by 16th September 2010. The report on correction of the identified deficiencies was published on the Nursing home’s website on 17th August 2010.
Final question: You have been asked to advise a local community group of seniors who are seeking information on quality long term services. What advice would you provide in terms of agencies to contact? What specific areas should they consider when they look for in a long term care facility?
Answer: A group of seniors looking for a long term care facility should consider the following factors: They should pay visits to ling term care facilities and get to see how the conditions are. They should pay special attention to meals and services, especially during peak hours. They should also be interested in the way the staff interacts with the residents. They should get the opinion of other family members about their findings; they should get to know how the facility is staffed, for instance, the number of nurses, registered nurses. (Vahakangas and Noro 32)
References
ANCC Certification.Washington DC: American Nurses Credentialing Center, American Nurses Association.
Arizona Department of Health Services. (2010). A consumer’s guide to nursing homes. Web.
Northern Cochise Nursing Home . (2011). Web.
Vahakangas, Pia and Anja Noro. “Provision of rehabilitation nursing in long-term care facilities”. Journal of Advanced Nursing (2008): 55(1):29-35. Print.