Lake Village Nursing & Rehabilitation is known for its high quality of care and success rate. Many patients continue to return to this innovative facility for all of their rehab needs. What is it about Lake Village that allows us to generate consistently high success rates as well as quantifiable profit margins?
We believe it comes down to a multifaceted approach to patient care involving teamwork, staffing and equipment, and patient-directed treatment. Combined, these components result in a thriving platform year after year.
Teamwork, Staffing and Equipment
At Lake Village, we have found that a collaboration of disciplines may enhance patients’ compliance, satisfaction and overall generalization/carryover of skills. For example, physical and occupational therapy work together to develop strength, balance and teaching skills needed for ADLs. While PT works on W/C transfers, OT might incorporate these instructions while practicing toilet transfers, as well as self-care and dressing.
Meanwhile, the speech therapist may communicate with the team regarding patients’ communication needs, including levels of cuing when learning an activity, appropriate complexity of language and the maximum number of directions patients can follow, in order to increase overall retention of coaching and treatment.
In order to maximize teamwork and communication between disciplines for overall quality of care, it is important to recognize the role of team-building, led by the DOR, using techniques such as lunch and learns for therapy staff, off-site departmental lunches, group mentoring, one-on-one feedback and a generalized focus on employee satisfaction.
An Employee Satisfaction Survey was administered to all full-time therapists in order to measure overall happiness at work and its effects on patient care:
Patient-Directed Care
Disability may relate to several body systems and affect many aspects of life. Therefore, rehabilitation should address all needs of the individual patient. The delivery of care should be tailored to the patient’s needs.
At Lake Village, team members are problem-oriented rather than status-minded. The therapists treat the patients, instead of treating the diagnosis. Upon leaving the facility and/or upon discharge, patients feel a sense of completion and success, as well as a full understanding of techniques to assist in maintaining their achieved level of function.
Catering to the specific needs of each patient, along with creating an individualized plan of care, leads to a higher rate of goal-met status as well as positive results/reviews for the therapy team and the facility as a whole. Below is a testimonial from a satisfied patient:
“When I first arrived, I was helpless. I could barely roll over or move around in my bed, let alone sit up in a chair without having severe anxiety and tremors. After months of therapy, with therapists I trusted, I gained confidence enough to make progress. I can now transfer much easier; I walk 190 feet at a time with a walker, with just one standing rest break! I really appreciate the therapists, who in the end, turned out more like friends, because of how much they care.”
Conclusion
Lake Village provides skilled therapeutic intervention aimed at increasing overall quality of care. We focus on teamwork, staffing and equipment, and patient-directed treatment in order to provide a thriving environment for all. This year, we have improved in many areas, including employee satisfaction and decreased use of contract labor. In the future, we aim to create an outpatient setting, in order to transition our patients in the continuum of care with personalized and trustworthy care.