2003-2005 Dementia Grant Projects
Advanced Illness Care Teams for Nursing Home Residents with Advanced Dementia
Ozanam Hall of Queens Nursing Home, Queens, NY
This project implemented and studied the effectiveness of Advanced Illness Care Teams. Interdisciplinary teams were trained to develop individualized care plans for residents with advanced dementia.
Goals: Improve residents' psychosocial functioning and reduce agitated behavior; also, increase family input and satisfaction with end-of-life care planning.
An Evaluation of the VIGIL System
Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, NY
This project implemented a new automated sensing service (VIGIL) that silently alerts caregivers according to rules that are established for each resident (such as exiting their bed). The purpose is to substitute nightly checks by direct care staff.
Goals: Among residents, improve sleep and reduce deviant behaviors. Within the facility, reduce the overall cost of care.
Horticultural Therapy in Dementia Care: Impact on Behavioral Symptoms
Elant at Goshen Inc. / Arden Hill Life Care Center, Goshen, NY
This study replicated a horticulture therapy program led by a horticultural therapist. A greenhouse was constructed to provide year-round gardening opportunities for residents with dementia.
Goal: Demonstrate that horticultural therapy achieves favorable outcomes for residents with dementia.
The Closing Group: A Therapeutic Recreation Program
Robinson Terrace, Stamford, NY
This therapeutic recreation program decreased stimulation and utilized validation with residents that exhibited behaviors that interfered with daily functioning. The group met for resident-driven activities during peak hours of agitation.
Goals: Encourage successful interactions among participants; increase self esteem; decrease agitation; decrease use of restraints and psychotropics; and provide validation.
Improving Continuity of Care and Medication Management when Nursing Home Residents are Discharged to and Admitted from the Hospital: An Intervention Study
The Jewish Home and Hospital Lifecare System, New York, NY
This two-part project examined medication management upon transfer of nursing home residents to and from the hospital. It also tested an intervention instrument designed to improve continuity of medication prescription during transfer, and reduce the incidence of adverse drug events.
Goal: Improve continuity of care of hospitalized nursing home residents with dementia.
Empowering Direct Care Providers in Breaking the Barriers to Alleviating Pain in Dementia
Long Island State Veterans Home, Stonybrook, NY
This project developed the Observational Pain Assessment Tool for Dementia Residents, and demonstrated its usefulness in improving clinical outcomes.
Goal: Promote early detection of pain in nursing home residents with dementia so as to alleviate suffering and improve quality of life.
Dementia Leadership Program: Recruitment and Retention of Staff in a Culture Change Environment
Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, Brooklyn, NY
This project allowed the facility to continue an ongoing Culture Change effort by training CNAs as mentors.
Goals: For CNAs, enhance communication abilities and provide a career ladder. The overall culture change effort seeks to establish a resident-centered environment that utilizes a regenerative model of care.
Changing the Culture of the Nursing Home: Pilot Project on Special Care Dementia
Sarah Neuman Center for Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Mamaroneck, NY
This project tested the efficacy of the BASICS/EDGE (Electronic Dementia Guide for Excellence) model as an intervention and catalyst for facility-wide culture change. The model is a bio-psycho-social framework of strength-based care aimed at helping staff to support needs, remaining abilities, and relationships.
Goals: Improve the process of caring for residents with dementia in long term care.
Initiating a Culture of Acknowledgement in the Nursing Home: It's about Community!
Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home, Albany, NY
An educational program served as the vehicle for culture change. Train-the-trainer materials addressed issues of aging, dementia, and essential elements of communication for direct care staff.
Goal: Create a sustainable, values-based, staff- and resident-centered culture in the entire facility.
Person-Centered Care
St. Cabrini Nursing Home, Dobbs Ferry, NY
This project involved promoting resident autonomy, providing the highest quality of life for residents and their family members, and encouraging growth among staff. To achieve this, eligible staff participated in a three-part educational series following the BASICS model.
Goal: Achieve enhanced quality of life for residents and staff through a culture change to person-centered care.
Sustainable Culture Change for Persons with Dementia in the Nursing Home: An Ethnographic Study of a Relationship Model Strengthened by Staff Training and Peer Support
Crown Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Brooklyn, NY
This two-stage culture change effort utilized experiential training and peer support for CORE teams, which included staff from all departments and shifts, as well as family members, residents, board members, and other stakeholders. CORE teams identified facility strengths and concerns, and worked towards addressing concerns.
Goals: Create healthy, person-centered relationships at all levels within the organization; also, deliver care using a team approach.