Stories – Alabama

Improving Opioid Safety and Quality Measures in Nursing Homes to Enhance Residents’ Quality of Life Opioids can cause a number of negative effects, particularly in older adults, as they are more susceptible to adverse effects of pain medication. Opioids can contribute to the worsening of nursing homes’ quality measures, including, but not limited to, bladder…Read More »

When it comes to Composite Scores, the lower the better. Scores are comprised of 13 long-stay quality measures. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has set a national goal for nursing homes to achieve a 6.00 or less.Read More »

atom Alliance Launches Diabetes Education in Alabama Alabama has the 4th highest rate of adult diabetes in the nation. While the national average is 10.1%, Alabama is at 12.9%. However, the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation (AQAF) is taking strides to decrease this rate as part of the atom Alliance Quality Innovation Network – Quality Improvement…Read More »

Hanceville Nursing and Rehab Center in Hanceville, Ala., set a goal to systematically eliminate all restraint-free alarms (RFAs). Their mission was to improve resident quality of life by decreasing the overall number of restraints used in the facility, which would decrease noise levels and increase resident rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep.Read More »

In August 2012, one out of four nursing home residents at Hanceville Nursing and Rehab Center was taking an antipsychotic (AP) medication. A little more than a year and a half later, the Hanceville, Ala., facility had cut its use in half.Read More »

One nursing home in Alabama was facing a communications problem and it was affecting the quality of care they provided to their residents. They needed to change the focus of their communications from “I” to “We.”Read More »