Essay Sample on Long Term and Residential Care

Introduction

Long-term residential care services are intensive in terms of labor input. The standards of the personnel may, however, vary from one setting to another. In essence, the quality of care given to residents depends solely on the caregiving personnel. There is a great need for administrators in the healthcare provider to identify the current and future needs of the residents to help in developing the right strategies in ensuring quality care is given. The growing demand for healthcare quality service amongst residents' posses a great challenge to caregivers and administrators in general. As an administrator at a long-term facility, I would develop internal and systemwide quality improvement programs, quality-related research and regulation of quality among my employees.

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Developing a systemwide or external improvement program involves external agencies enforcing programs to ensure quality among caregivers. These programs range from licensing, certification, audit and regular inspection ("Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care with Better Information," n.d.). The programs will not just help identify problems, but will also help in developing and organizing need oriented training among caregivers (Ray, 2000)The training program should ensure that the employee and caregivers receive the necessary information on the legal framework in the healthcare sector and hence give quality services.

Internal improvement programs ensure that within the organizations, there are programs put into place to ensure excellent care is given ("Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care with Better Information," n.d.). This program includes well developed internal procedures, well-established information systems, continuous collection of data and good analysis, and developing policies on staffing and having an elaborate mechanism for consumer feedback (Ray, 2000) These programs will not only ensure that quality care is rendered by the healthcare employees but also make sure that capacity building is objective and aims at developing certain skills. Eventually, employee standards will significantly improve.

Regulation quality majorly involves quality measures taken within the organization. The measures should be both structural, process measures and outcome-related measures (Ikegami, 1999). Process measures examine how care is being provided in the facility and help in developing training programs that make sure that the process of delivering services is flawless. Structural systems examine the elements of care provision in the organization while the outcome relates to the feedback received and the results of the services rendered ("Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care with Better Information," n.d.). All these elements ensure that quality is maintained within the facility and that any training undertaken aims at ensuring that the elements are realized.

Quality related research also helps in bettering services in residential caregivers. Quality research will ensure that my employees are well informed with up to date information, changing trends in healthcare provision and that there is an interest to develop the current system (Ikegami, 1999). This research can be conducted within the organization, and can also be accessed through various channels. The National Library of medicine, for example, is an example of a resource where this information can be accessed (Ray, 2000). This will, in turn, improve the quality of the personnel and at the long run the quality of the services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, quality and long-term healthcare provision should be the heartbeat of each and every healthcare provider. Administrators of such facilities should put into place measures that ensure that the services provided are excellent. Some of the training programs developed include the provision of quality regulation measures, development of internal and external improvement programme and ensuring quality research is both conducted and accessed. These steps will ensure that residents get the best services from caregivers.

References

Ikegami, N. (1999). Improving the Quality and Expanding the Quantity of Long-Term Care Staff. Long-Term Care for Frail Older People, 19-21.

Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care with Better Information. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690144/

Ray, W. A. (2000). Improving Quality of Long-Term Care. Medical Care, 38(12), 1151.