Improves Quality of Life for Residents and Their Families 

Miami, OK and Oklahoma City, OK (September 25, 2007) – In a move to improve the quality of life for the 66 residents of Miami’s Osborne Care and Rehab, the facility has been redesigned to include a spacious living area for residents and their guests and expanded dining options.  Transforming the facility from an institution setting to a home is part of a quality improvement initiative at Osborne, a 100-bed facility serving Northeastern Oklahoma for ten years.  One of the biggest changes is the removal of the centralized nurse’s station, a common site in many nursing homes. 

“We eradicated the nurse’s station and replaced it with a beautiful living room” said Sherri Francis, Chief Executive Officer at Osborne Care & Rehab.  “The impact of this change has been dramatic.  Our residents and their families love spending time together in a comfortable place outside their own bedroom.  We have more visitors now,” she added. 

Other changes put into place at the facility include restaurant-style dining. The Honeysuckle Café is open for a two-hour period around three meals a day, giving residents the flexibility to eat when they are ready, as opposed to requiring everyone to eat on the same schedule.  Diners choose from a menu and are served by wait staff with order pads.  Tables are dressed with linens and flowers, and music accompanies the meals. 

The restorative dining room enables people who otherwise would have eaten in their rooms to join others with like issues in a social setting.  “This environment helps restore dignity and provides much-needed socialization,” Francis said.  Food intake, often an issue for people who are not able to eat on their own has gone from 25-30% to 80-100% for those who are participating in restorative dining. 

“We commend Osborne Care & Rehab for their dedication to improving quality of care for their residents.  The environmental changes they have made can greatly impact quality of life both for residents and for the staff,” said John Leon, Nursing Home Quality Improvement Specialist at OFMQ.  

“We could not be more pleased with these changes and the improved contentment of our residents,” said Francis. 

Osborne Care & Rehab is one of 55 nursing homes throughout Oklahoma participating in Medicare’s Quality Improvement Program, led locally by Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ).  OFMQ consults with nursing homes to improve clinical areas such as chronic pain, pressure ulcers (bed sores), depression and the use of physical restraints.  Like Osborne, many homes working with OFMQ are also enhancing the quality of life factors, such as residents’ experience with dining, bathing and socializing. 

In the clinical areas, the latest data show that Oklahoma nursing homes partnering with OFMQ in the Quality Improvement Program improved chronic pain by 36%, pressure ulcers  by 23%, depression by 17% and reduced the use of physical restraints by 18%.*  

*The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, Q204 – Q107