The True Art & Science of Nursing, Parts 1 & 2
Joanne Rader and Anna Ortegara
Thursday, August 3
1:15pm-2:45pm
3:15pm-4:45pm

Nurses are an essential part of cultural transformation. This two part session is designed to explore the issues around the changing role of the nurse and to help nurses and others see what is to be gained through transforming themselves. We will illustrate how culture change frees nurses to practice the true art and science of nursing rather than the business of health care, and how it enables the individuals they care for to be in control of their own lives.

Part 1 will explore core issues, such as silencing the "big nurse in the sky," letting go of the need to feel in control, establishing shared responsibility and decision-making, and thinking creatively. Part 2 will focus on specific clinical practices such as medication scheduling and distribution, eating, dining and moving about. We will provide concrete examples of how direct care and the role of the nurse are changed and enhanced.

Pioneering Principles Applied to Palliative Care
Mary Parker
Thursday, August 3
3:15pm-4:45pm

This session will explore the content and results of Quality of Care Training implemented in New York City nursing homes to create a highly person directed palliative care program. Pioneering principles challenged staff to expand their capacities to identify the needs of individual residents and to work together to meet those needs. QCT emphasizes the importance of physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs (the Four Domains of Palliative Care) in the lives of both residents and caregivers. QCT teaches skills which build a culture of cooperative caregiving for the happiness of both resident and caregiver.

Moving Freely:
Beyond Restraint Free
Debbie Jones
Friday, August 4
8:00am-9:30am

The freedom to move about to maintain independence and to pursue happiness is critical for elders faced with aging changes. Removing restraints was only the first step. Now it is time to look more creatively at how we support the ability of persons in all types of living environments to move about freely to engage in life. What choices are out there? What do we know about the value of exercise? How does the care team determine when a wheelchair is useful and when it impedes comfort, strength and mobility? What role does technology play? For caregivers and clinicians, this session will help you advance the skills and outcomes you developed during the restraint elimination process.

Reinventing the Medication Pass
the Person-Directed Way
Carol Dumond & Anna Ortigara
Friday, August 4
11:00am-12:30pm

Determining what, when and how medications are in one's control should be a most basic right. And yet many outdated rituals, rules, medical assumptions and stereotypes about elders shape what has come to be known as the med pass. The medication administration system is a key process driving the daily life of nursing homes. It has taken on a complex structure around which revolve most other daily systems like mealtimes, waking routines, therapy and activities. The medication pass also anchors the nurse in this task-oriented activity and literally stops her from more creative roles in leading and mentoring the care team. This session will explore innovative case examples that move the control of medications to the resident.

Creative Care Planning
Christine Krugh, Carmen Bowman,
Jill Thomas & Pricila Tulp
Friday, August 4
2:00pm-3:30pm

Care planning is one of the most important yet least understood aspects of de-instiutionalizing services and individualizing care. Participants will discuss the benefits and deficits of the nursing care plan, individualized care plan, I-format care plan, and the narrative care plan. The specifics of the Advance Care Plan will also be explored, which allows individuals the ability to say, "This is how I want my care provided" even when they may no longer be able to verbalize their wishes. For all members of the care planning team, come and learn how to revive a stale care plan that no one really reads into a living document directed first and foremost by the individual the plan is about.