TL;DR
Get workout gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
Nursing home operators Signature HealthCARE and Trilogy Health Services are strengthening staff training and oversight for wound care, infection prevention, behavioral health and other complex needs. Their approaches include certifications, standardized practices and regular reviews of clinical data; the report does not provide comparative outcome measures.
Signature HealthCARE and Trilogy Health Services are expanding staff training and monitoring across specialized nursing home programs as residents’ care needs grow more complex, according to a Skilled Nursing News report. The efforts cover areas including wound care, infection prevention, behavioral health, antipsychotic use and intravenous medications, with operators using standardized practices and clinical reviews to identify problems and trends.
At Trilogy Health Services, weekly reviews compile information on unplanned hospitalizations, antipsychotic use, infections, abnormal laboratory results and critical lab reports. The company’s medical director reviews the data, and trends can be taken to monthly Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) meetings, where staff examine potential causes and develop focused projects, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Rhonda Dempsey told the publication.
Trilogy has added a wound care-certified nurse at every campus and uses a dashboard to track wound care across its facilities. Dempsey also described a standardized wound care formulary: an approved list of evidence-based dressings, bandages and topical treatments. She said the aim is consistency in care and products, not reliance on a single vendor.
Signature HealthCARE funds wound care certification for two nurses from each facility. Chief Nursing Officer Barbara Revelette said the company certified 150 new nurses in wound care over the past two years, using $1 million in grant funding. The operator also works with a wound care company on skin checks and data entry for root-cause analysis. For infection prevention, Signature uses onboarding instruction and “return demonstrations,” in which staff demonstrate a task and then perform it while an instructor observes.
Training for Higher-Acuity Care
The programs address a practical staffing and quality challenge: residents may have multiple medical conditions alongside behavioral needs, while nursing homes are also providing more complex services such as IV medication. Revelette said those treatments require more nursing time and appropriate staffing. She also noted that higher payment rates associated with some services can come with higher costs.
Regular review of clinical data can help operators identify where a facility is missing targets or where recurring problems need investigation. For families and residents, the quality of training and monitoring may affect how consistently care is delivered across campuses. The report describes the operators’ processes, however; it does not establish that these initiatives have reduced infections, hospitalizations, medication use or other adverse outcomes.
How Operators Track Care
The report links the programs to rising resident acuity, comorbidities and behavioral challenges. Its examples show two related layers of oversight: training staff to perform specialized tasks and reviewing data to spot patterns that may need follow-up.
Trilogy’s monthly QAPI discussions can produce targeted projects. One example is its work toward Joint Commission accreditation for assisted living properties, a voluntary evaluation that includes on-site surveys and interviews with staff and patients, according to Dempsey. The process also prompted attention to psychotropic medication use. Trilogy’s QAPI work with pharmacy staff includes reviewing medications at admission, checking diagnoses and educating clinicians involved in assisted living care.
For infection prevention, Trilogy tracks infections against company targets and conducts a focused review when results fall outside them. Dempsey said the company may investigate whether infections are being acquired or spreading internally. The report also notes that operators are standardizing infection prevention practices and identifying staff responsible for infection control.
“I think it’s good that you have consistency on great products and consistency that is the same in each campus; that doesn’t mean that you’re using all one product from one vendor.”
— Rhonda Dempsey, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Trilogy Health Services
Outcomes and Costs Not Detailed
The report does not provide before-and-after results showing whether the programs changed infection rates, wound outcomes, antipsychotic use or hospitalizations. It also does not specify the cost of the programs beyond Signature’s stated $1 million in grant funding for wound care certification, or describe how that funding is distributed.
Details about company-wide performance targets, the length and content of training, and how often dashboards trigger corrective action are not provided. The report includes accounts from two operators, so it does not establish how common these practices are across the nursing home sector.
Ongoing Reviews and Certification
The operators described continuing to monitor clinical indicators through weekly reviews, dashboards and QAPI meetings, with focused investigation when patterns or missed targets emerge. Signature’s account also points to further use of grant funding and staff certification, while Trilogy’s infection and wound care monitoring remains tied to its company targets.
The report does not identify a specific upcoming deadline or publication of results. Further evidence on whether the programs improve resident outcomes would require operators to share comparable measures over time, alongside information about staffing, costs and how facilities respond when reviews identify concerns.
Key Questions
Which clinical programs are nursing homes strengthening?
The report describes work in wound care, infection prevention, behavioral health, antipsychotic reduction and IV medication administration, among other areas.
How does Trilogy review clinical issues?
Trilogy compiles weekly information on hospitalizations, medication use, infections and lab results. Its medical director reviews the data, and trends may be discussed at monthly QAPI meetings.
What wound care training did Signature report?
Signature said it certified 150 new nurses in wound care over two years and used $1 million in grant funding to support training. Revelette said two nurses from each facility are sent through certification training.
Do the reported programs show better resident outcomes?
The report describes training and monitoring practices but does not provide comparative outcome data showing changes in infections, hospitalizations, wounds or medication use.
Source: rss
Halloween Picks
halloween
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
