by Michael Wasserman, MD, CMD

The Education Committee at CALTCM realizes that it is not easy for Northern California members to make it to the Annual Meeting.  We have decided to partner with HSAG to have an educational half-day session on October 29th at UC Davis in Sacramento.  The focus of the session will be on some of the most topical issues that we are facing.

Our sessions on Sex in the Nursing Home were very popular at the Annual meeting.  There might not be a topic that better reflects the importance of person centered care than one that looks at respecting the autonomy of people in relation to some of their most intimate needs.  Furthermore, the added complexity of dealing with cognitive impairment in regards to sex in nursing home residents provides context around the importance of clinical decision making for the post acute and long term care clinician. 

Pain is on the forefront of many quality improvement efforts today.  To treat or not to treat seems to be the biggest question of the day.  The audience should come prepared to ask questions about difficult clinical situations as we endeavor to provide ample opportunity for discussion. 

Doing advanced care planning and assuring that our resident’s POLST forms are filled out is important for many reasons.  I have often asked my cognitively impaired patient’s families how their loved one would have felt if they knew that they were in a nursing home, not recognizing their families.  Many of these families have told me that their mom or dad would not want to have their lives prolonged under such circumstances.  That has often led me to write orders in the chart not to hospitalize or not to prescribe antibiotics.  Dr. Karl Steinberg will reprise his talk from the Annual meeting on how to have these conversations with patients and their families.

HSAG and CALTCM continue to work together to educate facility staff and clinicians on the most effective approach to behavioral problems in cognitively impaired nursing home residents.  Antipsychotics are generally not necessary, and Dr. Elizabeth Landsverk approaches the issue from a very practical “real-life” perspective.

Adverse drug events are a huge issue in older adults, and our meeting will approach this issue from both a geriatrician and pharmacist’s perspective.  The audience will learn ways to work more closely with consultant pharmacists and will also learn more about the evolving concept of “deprescribing.”

Finally, a meeting on post-acute and long-term care in today’s environment would not be replete without a presentation regarding reimbursement and upcoming changes in rules and regulations.  We want to make sure that we give our audience an opportunity to not only get up to date information, but also a chance to ask questions.

We look forward to seeing you on October 29th!