Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes

Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes is a national campaign to encourage, assist and empower nursing homes to improve the quality of care and life for residents.

Setting targets for nursing homes

Providing high quality at your organization is your top priority, and setting targets is one way to ensure you are continually striving to improve the quality of care for your patients. Identifying areas for improvement and setting measurable goals are the first steps towards implementing a plan or vision for your organization.

Setting a target alone will not lead to improved clinical outcomes, but targets can increase awareness about specific topics and help your organization focus resources on specific clinical topic areas. Targets can also motivate your staff to raise the bar for quality.

Examining trends and setting targets can help you identify problem areas and prioritize quality improvement activities in your organization.

Nursing homes can set targets by registering for the Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes Campaign at http://www.nhqualitycampaign.org in the following areas. Use of the site is free and the goals you set are for your internal improvement purposes and are confidential and can be changed at any time.

Goal 1 - Staff Turnover: Nursing homes will take steps to minimize staff turnover in order to maintain a stable workforce to care for residents.

Goal 2 - Consistent Assignment: Being regularly cared for by the same caregiver is essential to quality of care and quality of life. To maximize quality, as well as resident and staff relationships, the majority of nursing homes will employ “consistent assignment” of CNAs.

Goal 3 - Restraints: Nursing home residents are independent to the best of their ability and rarely experience daily physical restraints.

Goal 4 - Pressure Ulcers: Nursing home residents receive appropriate care to prevent and appropriately treat pressure ulcers when they develop.

Goal 5 - Pain: Nursing home residents will receive appropriate care to prevent and minimize episodes of moderate or severe pain. Objectives for long stay and short stay are slightly different.

Goal 5A: Long stay (longer than 90 days) nursing home residents will receive appropriate care to prevent and minimize episodes of moderate or severe pain.

GOAL 5B: People who come from a hospital to a nursing homes for a short stay will receive appropriate care to prevent and minimize episodes of moderate or severe pain.

Goal 6 - Advance Care Planning: Following admission and prior to completing or updating the plan of care, all nursing home residents will have the opportunity to discuss their goals for care including their preferences for advance care planning with an appropriate member of the healthcare team. Those preferences should be recorded in their medical record and used in the development of their plan of care.

Goal 7 - Resident/Family Satisfaction: Nursing home staff will assess resident and family experience of care and incorporate this information into their quality improvement activities.

Goal 8 - Staff Satisfaction: Nursing home administrators will assess staff satisfaction with their work environment at least annually and upon separation and incorporate this information into their quality improvement activities.