National Campaign to Improve Nursing Home Care

OFMQ encourages long-term care facilities across the Sooner State to register for Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes, a national campaign that is reinvigorating efforts to improve the quality of care and quality of life for nursing home residents. The coalition-based campaign, which began in 2006, monitors key indicators of nursing home care quality, promotes excellence in care giving and acknowledges the critical role nursing home staff has in improving care.  Over 6000 nursing homes nationwide are participating in the campaign, including 53 Oklahoma facilities. 

Building on the success of other quality initiatives including Quality First, the Nursing Home Quality Initiative and the culture change movement, Advancing Excellence’s unprecedented coalition includes long-term care providers, caregivers, medical and quality improvement experts, government agencies, consumers and others.  Each of these groups has a role to play in creating greater awareness about quality and the resources currently available to help providers improve the care they deliver.

OFMQ serves as a Local Area Network for Excellence (LANE) convener, coordinating and supporting campaign efforts to:

• Raise awareness and encourage enrollment
• Act as the communications point for the campaign at the local level
• Coordinate provision of technical assistance for the interventions.

“As the campaign enters its second year, we would like to see more Oklahoma providers participate,” says Lisa Bewley, OFMQ’s Nursing Home Project Manager. “The campaign goals align with quality initiatives our nursing home partners have already been working on – particularly physical restraints, pressure ulcers and target setting.  So, facilities can continue the quality improvement work they are already doing, without additional data collection and reporting,” she said.  

The campaign focuses on eight measurable goals: reducing pressure ulcers, reducing the daily use of physical restraints, improving the management of pain in both long-term and short-stay residents, setting individualized targets for clinical quality improvement, measuring resident and family satisfaction and incorporating this information into quality improvement activities, measuring nursing staff turnover and developing action plans to improve staff retention and adopting consistent assignment.

Participating nursing homes work on at least three of the eight goals and can access technical assistance and guidance from quality experts.  The campaign provides a comprehensive tool set designed to assist nursing homes in meeting their selected campaign goals.

Consumers can also register for the campaign to help create greater awareness of quality care and encourage providers to improve the care they deliver.

To find out more about Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes, and to register, go to www.nhqualitycampaign.org. There is no charge to participate.

Contact OFMQ for more information