2014 Buyers Guide reader survey: Resident Care

Through Long-Term Living’s annual readership survey, our professional readers tell us how they’ve improved care delivery, what types of resident services they have added and how the latest technology is being used. The survey is open to all readers, including owners, executives, administrators, nursing directors and caregivers at nursing homes, assisted living and continuing care retirement communities, and independent living and post-acute care sites.

This year’s respondent pool is evenly split between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and most fall into the 50–199 bed size range. Half of the respondents come from independent facilities, whereas another 31 percent are chain-based facilities.

MEDICATION MANAGEMENT, NUTRITION REMAIN TOP CLINICAL CONCERNS

Managing residents’ medications and dietary needs are the top two clinical concerns, echoing last year’s data. Infection control, however, has risen in the ranks to the #3 concern. Training seems to be following suit, as nearly three-quarters (73.8 percent) of responding sites now have a trained infection control and prevention staff member, a notable increase since 2013.

Caregivers are still faced with staffing challenges. Nearly half (48.7 percent) of the responding facilities said they have a licensed nurse practitioner (LPN) on site for one to eight hours a day, but a whopping 36.4 percent have no LPN on a daily basis. Only 6 percent of sites have an LPN on duty more than 17 hours per day. Similar workflow challenges relate to the limited presence of licensed physycians—47.6 percent of respondents say they have a doctor on site only once a week or less.

Read the articles pertaining to the other sections of the reader survey:

2014 Buyers Guide reader survey: Facility operations

2014 Buyers Guide reader survey: Technology

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.