Hi Friends! Voices for Quality Care held its fifth Culture Change Conference in Columbia, Maryland today. We had the largest crowd yet with over 50 participants! In the afternoon, we did usual exercise and talked about what things we need to do in order to get the culture change movement going in our communities. We had a great discussion and some new ideas emerged. Unfortunately we couldn't do any live blogging because we were in the basement of an old building and couldn't get a have a signal. So, I'm posting a little later. Nevertheless, here is what out groups came up with.

Group 1

   1. Stop the rigid scheduling and stop saying " It's not my job."

   2. Stop whining, moaning and groaning unless you have a solution

   3. Stop denying that a problem exists

Group 2

1. Stop rigid schedules including bathing, dressing medication, toileting; This has resulted in activities starting late because many residents are still in the middle of activities of daily living.

Group 3

1.    Make the nursing home more like home by encouraging the staff to wear regular clothing
   
   
2.    Unlock dining rooms and give residents access to food 24 hours a day
   
   
3.    Get the managers out of their offices and have them walk around the nursing home
   
   
4.    Do whatever it takes to reduce tunover
   
   

Group 4

   1. Be less accepting of what managers say - when he or she says no, challenge the manager and try to engage him or her in a dialogue

   2. Let all residents participate in activities if they want

   3. Stop "clumping" all residents together for activities. Have individualized activities

Group 5

   1. Stop "allowing" and start "empowering"

   2. Stop the concept of "my resident" and "your resident"

   3. Stop making "blanket" policies and start treating people like individuals

Group 6

   1. If a 90 year old with diabetes wants a candybar, let him have it!

   2. Strengthen relationships with advocates

   3. Increase volunteerism

   4. Show less outward signs of medical activities

   5. Have more spontaneous activities

   6. Pay more attention to staff

We're done for today, but have many new thoughts and ideas! There are two more seminars, one in Salisbury and one in Elkton. Both are in Maryland. Please join us!