A Contest for Person-Centered Care

I like the way Dave Sedgwick thinks, and always look forward to his blog posts at Transforming Long-Term Care.  He tweeted me the other day about a contest he and his colleagues have created at the Ensign Group.  It asks the line staff, residents, families, and others working at Ensign  facilities to generate ideas to transform the day in the life of the residents, engaging the Department of Health along the way.  The goal is to change the daily experience of the resident as a cog going through the wheels of the nursing home routine, and to create an environment that adapts to the residents as individuals.

You can hear Dave discuss the “eprize” contest in this video.

A book with the ideas generated from the contest will be published next year and available to those in and outside of the Ensign Group.  The winners of the contest will get $150,000.

I like this contest because:

• it’s exciting and positive and the results will be shared rather than hidden

• it asks the “little guys” for their knowledge and expertise

• it engages the Department of Health instead of keeping them the enemy

• it has the goal of making nursing homes better for the residents

Does your nursing home ask for your suggestions about how to improve?