A culture of safety is defined and facilitated by organizational leaders and managers. Proactive identification and management of organizational and clinical risks is a key element of a culture of safety. Industry professional liability trends will be used to illustrate the frequency and severity of senior care claims. Team actions for early recognition and timely response to clinical issues and resident safety risks will be discussed.

Professional, courteous, informed care team members that are engaged, passionate and proactive in meeting the needs of residents and family members… and that smile, have a sense of humor, are compassionate and empathetic, and live the values of the organization every day are the team members that bring service excellence to life. Organizational culture drives service excellence. Residents and family members are looking for an equal rationale and emotional value from their senior care experience. This presentation will provide strategies for developing a culture of service excellence.

Organizational and individual professionalism impacts patient/resident trust, safety, quality of care, and satisfaction. Professionalism can also impact an organization’s reputation, market share, employee satisfaction, recruitment, retention, and engagement. Professionalism can be fostered and developed and should be considered a core competency for trusted healthcare delivery. This presentation will address strategies for leading professionalism in daily practice.

The dreaded conversation or a difficult question…we have all been there. Communicating with heart and with an intent to understand the person’s need, concern or question requires active listening, acknowledgment, and focused action and follow-up. A culture of respect is the foundation of positive messaging. This story illustrated presentation will focus on core principles of positive messaging in daily communication, and when addressing challenging questions, concerns, and complaints.

Research has identified a lack of effective leadership as a failure mode in serious safety events. In many situations, a timely and appropriate response can mean the difference between life and death. Taking care of the people; patient/resident, family, and staff is an essential first response step. How the organization responds including transparency, learning, improvement, and resolution can have a significant impact on reputation and resident/family trust. A serious safety event plan supports legal, regulatory, licensure, accreditation, and insurance reporting requirements and action steps. This presentation will address important steps in serious safety event response including investigation, disclosure of adverse events, quality/peer review protection, interviews, documentation, preparing for media response, regulatory reporting, and process improvement.

Excellent clinical care, not documented, can be challenging to defend in legal and regulatory situations. This presentation addresses contributing factors for professional liability risks and frequent risks identified in serious senior care events. Documentation best practices including clinically pertinent documentation, documentation that aligns with facility policies and procedures, and documentation for challenging situations will be discussed.

The tools of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) can be used in daily practice as part of a comprehensive quality improvement program. A structured, facilitated team process to identify contributing factors and root causes of an event that resulted in an undesirable outcome and developing corrective actions that support a clear understanding of what happened and why the event occurred are key elements of sustainable and effective process improvement. The webinar will address the steps and tools of Root Cause Analysis.

As seniors age, the risk of falling and the risk of significant injury increases. A comprehensive fall management program involves a multi-disciplinary approach that actively engages the resident and family members/significant others. This presentation will address the key elements of a comprehensive fall management program including assessment, interventions, care planning, monitoring and timely communication, and complete documentation.

Each year, more than 2.5 million people in the United States develop pressure ulcers. These skin lesions bring pain, associated risk for serious infection, and in some cases decreased mobility. (Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality). Proactive skin injury management requires a comprehensive multi-disciplinary approach including assessment, interventions, care planning, monitoring, timely communication, and complete documentation. This presentation will discuss the key elements of a proactive skin injury management program.

Elopement risk presents a serious health and safety risk for residents. A number of cases of residents that left senior care organizations unsupervised have been reported in the media, some involving serious injury or death. A key responsibility for senior care organizations is the identification of resident care needs, including safety risks, implementing effective interventions, developing a resident-centered care plan to minimize the potential for safety risks, and accurate, timely, and clinically pertinent documentation. This presentation will discuss the key elements of a proactive elopement management program.

Are your charge nurses prepared to lead the way when faced with challenging events, residents, staff, and family members? The ability to critically think, prioritize, thoughtfully delegate, and manage emergencies are core competencies of effective leadership. This presentation will address strategies for building a team of situationally aware supervisors, shift leaders, and charge nurses. Topics will include resident and family “messaging” when faced with difficult questions and unplanned situations; mentoring a new team member, coaching the under-performing team member, critical thinking as a daily work practice, and communication strategies to optimize team performance and resident safety. Illustrated case scenarios and facilitated discussion will be incorporated throughout the session.

Often when there is a significant safety event, communication and team skills are involved. This presentation addresses core components of a team, team leadership, situational awareness, mutual support, safety speak, and effective communication. Core principles of TeamSTEPPS® are addressed.

The core elements of Organizational Culture will be addressed including Culture of Safety, Culture of Service Excellence, Culture of Professionalism, Culture of Respect, and Culture of Quality. Strategies and practices that support Organizational Culture will be discussed including critical thinking, situational awareness, and structured communication.

This program details core elements of a comprehensive risk and quality management program including proactive infection prevention.

Common risk management issues related to assisted living services will be discussed along with proactive strategies to manage these risks.