Nursing Assistant Resources On The Web

Interesting article:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Local officials say the state’s emphasis on tracking improvement in nursing homes and home health care services is the reason why Alabama has continued to perform well in those areas, as shown recently in a national study.

Nursing home care in the state was rated as “strong” after ranking above average in 9 of 15 quality measures monitored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Md.

Mike Jordan, spokesman for the Alabama Nursing Home Association, said the ratings highlight industry efforts to track both improvements and shortcomings in the state’s nursing home facilities.

Benchmarking tools like the Setting Targets-Achieving Results (STAR) Web site offered with the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation, have helped give nursing homes a concrete way to monitor their levels of care, he said.

The site lets nursing homes set targets quality goals and track their progress over time.

“It’s about setting a standard, trying to achieve that standard and then if not, saying, ‘What could we have done to make sure those standards are met the next time?” Jordan said Tuesday.

The state rankings were devised using information from the 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report that was originally released in January.

Alabama received an “average” ranking overall after all areas were factored in, including the state’s quality of preventive, acute and chronic care.

“There are concerns about prevention with babies and mothers, but again birth rate is very much related to the economics of the state,” said Dwight McNeill, who helped oversee the study. “The absence of good prenatal care and the level of prenatal care is a concern, but the nursing home and home health care are about the best I’ve seen.”

Five of the state’s six “below average” ratings in preventative care were in maternal and child care categories.

That’s an area Alabama has struggled with, said Tom Miller, director of the health department’s office of family planning.

“Historically we have been trying to improve prenatal care because we’ve lagged behind on infant mortality rates and we’re not where we’d like to be,” he said. “We’re always looking for opportunities to do things that would improve it.”

Miller said his department has been working with the March of Dimes to educate women about the dangers of smoking while pregnant, which has been shown to affect birth weight.

“During pregnancy is a good time for women to quit because we’ve found that a lot of them are more motivated by the pregnancy once they know all the dangers,” he said.

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On the Net:

Healthcare Quality Report: http://www.qualitytools.ahrq.gov/
qualityreport/2005/state