News About Kendal Outreach and Its Programs

Kendal Outreach Receives Grant to Establish PANPHA's New Center for Innovation

The new center is staffed by Ruth Bish, RN, and Janet Davis, BA, ACC. Ruth has been serving as a nurse educator for the Pennsylvania Nursing Care Facilities Best Practices Project since 2000. Ruth’s primary areas of expertise are implementation of quality improvement protocols in areas such as depression, pain, incontinence, pressure ulcers, functional improvement. Janet has over 25 years’ experience in long-term care with particular expertise in dementia care, activity planning, fall management, and safe bed systems. She has been a regional director for the Pennsylvania Restraint Reduction Initiative for the past 10 years.

PANPHA's goal for the Center is to elevate the expertise and innovation of PANPHA members by cross-pollinating outstanding programs and actions to improve care. The Center will:

• Be a repository of best practices and innovations for the provision of senior services, including: culture change; technology; workforce/talent development; and job enhancement.
• Coordinate visits with PANPHA members to learn about and share best rpactices.
• Develop and maintain information about innovation in senior services to include a website and an on-line community of practice or related list serves.
• Be a resource to PANPHA as the Association advocates to government and the public for the future of aging services for Pennsylvania.

The Center will rely on members to commit to sharing innovative practices and integrating new practices. For more information about the PANPHA Center for Innovation, contact Mary Scharf, Kendal Outreach, LLC, telephone: 610-335-1280 or mscharf@kendaloutreach.org.

Kendal Outreach Releases Unique Training Program"Missing Voices®"

Orders are now being taken for Missing Voices, a compelling and candid look at the way we give care. The families and friends who are a part of the life of the resident, client, or patient may not be seen, heard, or valued for the important role they assume in the health care continuum.  Nursing care staff - in the midst of negotiating change and delivering care in a faster-paced, more “techno-savvy” health care environment – can fail to see that the recipients of our care are more than just the resident. 

Missing Voices, a unique training resource for health care systems, is a thirty-minute film that documents stories of families affected by caregiver actions.  It highlights how seemingly innocent, yet insensitive, behaviors of doctors, nursing staff and other disciplines in the health care setting can have profound impact on the lives of families. To view selected Missing Voices video clips, click here.

The accompanying teaching guide can help management and caregivers develop and implement a continuum of care that complements the role of the family as vital members of the care team.  The various exercises are designed to increase awareness and receptivity to becoming more caring individuals in the role of healthcare professionals.  The film and guide are designed to be used within a teaching setting for students in the medical, nursing and allied health professions; advocates; administrators; as well as for those staff presently engaged in service areas of care.

Orders are now being taken for the Missing Voices training package:

Order Missing Voices online.

Download an order form.

This special training package is being offered at an introductory rate for a limited time.  For more information you are welcome to contact Mary Scharf: mscharf@kendaloutreach.org; 610-335-1280.

Kendal Outreach Now an Approved Provider of Continuing Nursing Education (CEUs)

Kendal Outreach, LLC is pleased to announce that we are now an Approved Provider of Continuing Nursing Education by the Maryland Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.  As such, all educational sessions (teleconferences, seminars, etc.) provided by Kendal Outreach will afford CEUs to all registered nurses who apply for the programs they attend. CEU credit will be assigned according to the length of each presentation.  For further information, please contact Mary Scharf at mscharf@kendaloutreach.org or by phone at (610) 335-1280.

Kendal Outreach Staff Present Program for CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services)

In August of 2007 CMS offered a satellite broadcast called Physical Restraint Use in Nursing Homes. The program was presented in three parts; Part II The Exception Not the Rule was presented by Kendal Outreach staff Karen Russell, Janet Davis and Sara Wright. This satellite broadcast and Webcast provide state surveyors and long-term care providers with an understanding of physical restraint mitigation issues. This program has a taped Webcast and will be available for viewing up to one year
following August 3, 2007 on the CMS web site.

Kendal Outreach Establishes National Newsletter

The KOllaborator: Perspectives in Elder Care

This newsletter offers articles by and for professionals, providers and caregivers in the long term care field. The KOllaborator has its roots in the Pennsylvania Restraint Reduction Initiative (PARRI), which was officially launched at a kick-off event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on September 5, 1996. PARRI has been serving the state for eleven years and has been praised for providing leadership, direction, and technical support to 93% of long term care facilities in the Commonwealth; their efforts have resulted in an 87% reduction in use of physical restraints. The KOllaborator will include a focus on model practices, facility experiences in eliminating restraints and related safe care practices, and regulatory issues. In addition, future issues will include articles by and for caregivers around the nation. If you have a care issue or experience you would like to share please contact Mary Scharf at 610-335-1280 or email: mscharf@kcorp.kendal.org.

Topics in the second issue, by page:

2 • Q & A on Bed Safety
4 • Bed Safety Tips
6 • Bethlen Home Is Training Site
7 • Newest Member of COLLAGE
8 • PARRI Expands Focus
8 • Recipe for Dining Success
9 • Upcoming Events from Kendal Outreach
10• Clinical Issues Forum; Missing Voices, New Video

Pennsylvania Restraint Reduction Initiative Receives Grant for 12th year.

April 2007

The PARRI team has received a grant for year 12 and will to continue its work through June 30 of 2008. Kendal's four-member training team has provided assistance to 93% of Pennsylvania’s 728 long term care facilities. This assistance has included consultation and on-site visits addressing the following areas: physical restraint reduction, fall prevention, psychoactive medication reduction, behavior management, and individualized assessment. In addition to these areas of expertise, the team this year will offer programs on preventing pressure ulcers. Meet the team.

Patients will be safer in bed thanks to the new FDA (Food and Drug Administration) guidelines released recently: "Hospital Bed System Dimensional and Assessment Guidance to Reduce Entrapment"   Read Press Release.   Link to FDA.

To order materials, please visit our HBSW page.

Pennsylvania Celebrates Success of Best Practices Project   Read More....

Consistent Assignment - Outreach Director, Beryl Goldman, is quoted in "My Inner View, Management Intelligence for Healthcare" article confirming the value of "consistent assignment" of staff in long term care. Read More....