Gove County Medical Center Long Term Care Unit is a 37-bed Intermediate Care Facility based in Quinter, Kansas. In July 2015, the Long Term Care Facility team decided they needed to improve their long-stay Quality Measure (QM) performance. After review, the team established three goals:
- Reduce their overall composite score of 13.21 percent; the national average is 7.92 percent
- Reduce antipsychotic medication rate from 29.06 percent; by comparison, the state average is 20 percent and the national average is 15.7 percent
- Reduce the falls rate from 19.35 percent; by comparison, the state average is 54.9 percent and the national average is 45.3 percent
The Gove County leadership team consulted Brenda Groves, LPN, Regional Nursing Home Lead for the Great Plains Quality Innovation Network and scheduled monthly coaching calls with the leadership team. To achieve their goal, the coaching calls provided suggestions of best practices for improvement, resources and education for staff .
The team achieved their goal of improved QM performance by implementing staffing shift changes and educating staff to incorporate the best practices needed to improve independence, increase mobility and decrease infections of their residents. Through hard work and dedication, Gove County Medical Center Long Term Care Facility achieved their goal.
Their current long-stay composite score is 6.94 percent, antipsychotic medication reduction is 13.79 percent and falls is 17.24 percent.
Residents also report that the facility is “calmer” because anxiety from residents have decreased tremendously, allowing staff to discontinue the use of some anti-anxiety medications.
“Success is dependent on teamwork and communication. Our motto is one team, one vision, one goal. We will continue to provide education specific to each resident, continue hourly checks and limit alarms. We will also provide exercise appropriate for our residents needs to help them remain as strong as they can for as long as possible. The true measure of your strength and character is how you handle adversity, not how you deal with success,” stated Sudden Carroll, CNA and Denise Woodworth, RN, DON, at Gove County Medical Center.
For more information about Gove County Medical Center Long Term Care Facility and their efforts, click here. For more information on how Great Plains Quality Innovation Network is working with nursing homes to reduce preventable healthcare conditions, click here.