Welcome to Donna’s Diary! This is an online diary of Donna Casey, a fictitious director of nursing (DON), at River View Rehabilitation and Care Center, a fictitious Minnesota nursing home that is working to implement quality assurance performance improvement (QAPI) pratices.
Did we say this is fictitious? Yes, the nursing home and the people in the diary are fictitious. However, the challenges described through the diary entries are very real. They are the challenges nursing homes like yours face day in, day out. The solutions posed here also are very real. They are based on best practices.
The aim is to ensure that every nursing home resident receives the highest quality of care and has their highest quality of life. We also want quality of life to improve for you—the folks working in the nursing home, as well as the family and loved ones of the residents.
This diary provides a way for the nursing home community to easily share ideas in response to the case examples presented.
Nursing homes can use this diary forum to:
- Ask questions of us and the nursing home community
- React to new QI ideas–sharing barriers and potential solutions
- Process your thoughts
- Share your own experiences–both successes and challenges
- Make suggestions for resources you have found helpful
Use the diary entries as case studies to facilitate discussion and learning within nursing homes:
- For discussion at staff meetings
- When providing staff education related to one of these specific topics
- For learning opportunities during staff orientation
- To enhance staff critical thinking and problem solving skills
- For implementing QAPI principles
We look forward to connecting with you through the experiences of Donna.
Warm regards,
Kristi Wergin and Kathie Nichols
