Excellent health care—including mental health care—contributes to quality of life of nursing home residents. This webinar series presents information to build understanding of the psychosocial concerns of residents and how nursing home staff members can recognize and help to address those needs. The series is targeted to nursing home social workers, although all long-term care staff members and advocates are welcome.
There is no charge to attend the webinars, although registration is required. New in 2014, attendees can request a "certificate of attendance" when they attend the "live webinar" and complete the evaluation form following the webinar. Some states accept these certificates toward CEUs; requesting CEUs is up to each participant.
Webinars are recorded and recordings are stored on the National Nursing Home Social Work Network website (address below). Anyone can watch the recordings on-line, at no cost. The project is being led by Mercedes Bern-Klug, associate professor of social work at the University of Iowa, and Robert Connolly, a retired social worker, with 25 years of long-term policy and consultation experience with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The webinar series is supported by a grant from the Retirement Research Foundation.
Registration is now open for the spring 2014 series:
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January 9: Urinary Incontinence 101: What Social Workers Need to Know
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January 14: Advocating With and For Residents within the LTC Facility (Ombudsman roles)
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January 23: Person-Centered Care—What Happens When Choice Involves Risk?
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January 30: How Social Workers Can Improve Communications with Physicians
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February 11: Assisting with End-of-Life Planning, including an overview of POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment)
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February 25: Oral Health 101: What Social Workers Should Know
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February 27: Ethical Decision-Making the Context of Dying and Death in the NH
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March 11: Nonpharmacological Approaches for managing Problem Behaviors
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March 27: Understanding the Stages of Dementia
Registration now closed
Please contact either Mercedes Bern Klug at 319-335-1265 or mercedes-bern-klug@uiowa.edu, or Bob Connolly at 410-465-7654 or rpc2536@gmail.com, with questions or Webinar topic recommendations.