by Drs. Steve Lai and Tim Gieseke

For this year’s annual conference, Mastering Patient-Centered Care Through Improved Communication, Care Transitions, and Palliative Care, the key themes will be better communication and palliative care.  In our fast-paced, technology-driven medical world, the principles of good palliative care need to be spread to our nursing home staffs and physicians caring for this frail patient population.  Despite the rapid growth and impact of hospital palliative care programs in the past decade, a major gap in access to palliative care exists.  It is imperative that we improve palliative care access in the skilled nursing facility as it is one key component in the chain of continuity for palliative care in the community.

At the annual AMDA meeting in March at the Gaylord National Convention Center near Washington, DC, the House of Delegates hotly debated whether or not full membership status be offered to non-physician practitioners, including nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistants, and other similarly situated LTC professionals.  Co-sponsored by the California, Missouri and Virginia state chapters of AMDA, and presented by CALTCM past president and AMDA Board of Directors member Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD, the resolution passed by a vote of 106-47.  

My wife and I have just returned from Africa. We had opportunities to get a glimpse at the new rainbow democracy that has emerged after the elections in 1994 following the abolition of the Apartheid regime. It has been to the credit of Nelson Mandela, who negotiated a bloodless transition aimed at preserving the infrastructure of this resource-rich country.

One cannot avoid seeing the social and economic challenges facing this country. Per published statistics, there is a 38% unemployment rate, and only 37% of households have a man in the house. With this as a background, I was honored to visit a poor neighborhood, Hanover Park, in the flatlands outside of Cape Town. I was asked to speak to staff of a long term care complex called Rehoboth Age Exchange.

by Flora Brahmbhatt, Pharm.D., CGP

Treatment of osteoporosis is a neglected subject in long term care. When a physician walks into a facility, no nurses run up to him/her and say “DOCTOR, Mrs. Smith has osteoporosis!” We are all busy taking care of more “emergent” problems (UTI’s, behavior issues, etc.) However, are we missing out on an opportunity to better serve our patients, and our facilities?