Skilled nursing facilities face staffing shortages, financial pressures, and compliance issues. Effective vital sign monitoring can enhance care and improve conditions.
Over the past few decades, we’ve seen a monumental shift in the senior care landscape. Seniors, families, and local and federal legislators are calling for widespread reforms of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and other long-term care (LTC) facilities for the good of the residents who call them home. And there’s no wonder why — residents at poorly run, understaffed, and negligent facilities have been put at great risk, and some have endured or succumbed to unthinkable treatment and negligence.
Just because many nursing facilities in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere fail to provide high-quality care doesn’t mean your facility has to follow suit. You can turn your facility around and provide dependable, life-changing care and assistance to every one of your residents.
But there’s no denying that delivering high-quality nursing care is arduous in today’s healthcare landscape. From low staffing and heavy compliance requirements to negative public connotations and more, you’re facing some formidable obstacles. Luckily, there are lifelines in the form of targeted solutions and healthcare technology. Implementing the right vital sign monitoring solutions makes way for a lasting transformation that spills over onto your staff, your residents, and their families.
Read on as we take a deep dive into vital sign monitoring, why it’s crucial for any senior care facility overhaul, targeted vital sign tools and solutions for senior care facilities, and more. The insights to come will bring your facility closer to your goals.
Common barriers to success for SNFs
SNFs must navigate a complex system of challenges that make quality care provision difficult. Below, we’ll highlight some of the most common barriers to success for SNFs.
Staffing shortages
Chances are you’re all too aware of the widespread nursing home staffing shortages. This is one of the most common challenges faced by senior care facilities. According to a 2024 survey by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, 99% of nursing homes have open positions they’d like to fill. 89% of these are for much-needed RNs. This is evidence that, even after the mass nurse shortage from the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing facilities still grapple with staffing issues.
And the problem isn’t limited to the United States. Though the need for nursing care is on the rise in the country, the number of RNs at Canadian nursing homes has dropped by 6.3 percent. Because of this, residents are not receiving the care they need.
Staffing shortages come with some very wide-reaching implications for the staff, the residents, and the facilities themselves. Here are some of them:
- Burned-out staff with low morale and high turnover.
- Staff documentation, communication, and workflow errors due to fatigue and ongoing stress.
- Increased incidence of pressure ulcers in residents, which can progress into life-threatening infections.
- Lack of supervision increases the risk of resident injury from falls and other accidents.
- Feelings of loneliness and isolation in residents.
Low-quality care, financial issues, and reputation damage are just a few issues caused by staffing shortages in nursing homes.
Financial pressures
Nursing homes in North America have been struggling with financial issues for a long time. In 2020, the bulk of American nursing home residents (about 60%) are beneficiaries of Medicaid, which pays only 70 to 80% of the actual cost of care. That same year, over 70% of nursing homes feared they may not survive another year at the current pace.
Though the climate isn’t as financially dire as it was during the COVID pandemic, Medicaid reimbursement is still extremely low — most medical facilities and professionals in America can vouch for that. Plus, government funding that was available during the pandemic has stopped.
Other reasons for financial issues in nursing homes in North America include:
- Increasing healthcare costs.
- Aging in Place trends lead many to avoid SNFs entirely.
- Staffing shortage mitigation practices require substantial funding as facilities compete for qualified workers.
All these factors, and more, put success out of reach for affected facilities.
Compliance penalties
On one hand, facilities might have trouble providing adequate care to their residents because of staffing issues, management problems, financial difficulties, legal misunderstandings, etc. Then, there’s the corruption plaguing the industry in the U.S. and Canada, where certain institutions intentionally disregard compliance laws.
Regardless of the reason, compliance often takes a back seat in nursing homes. And when this happens, penalties come into play, some of which are extremely steep. Here are some of the main compliance penalties nursing facilities could face:
- Fines or administrative monetary penalties (AMP)
- Forced facility closure
- Bed restriction
Effective vital sign management is transformative for SNFs
With so many things coming against nursing homes in North America, it’s easy to simply accept the predicament and give up. But if you haven’t yet implemented a vital sign management initiative within your facility, there’s still hope. Effective vital sign monitoring holds far-reaching positive consequences for all involved.
What is true vital sign management?
When you hear the term “vital sign management” or “vital sign monitoring,” what comes to mind? Most may liken it to taking vitals and documenting them for later review. That’s reasonable, given the limited attention vital signs data may receive in the LTC setting.
However contrary to what some may believe, true vital sign monitoring or management is more than keeping track of vitals on a regular timetable. It’s an initiative where the vitals measurements, policies, and documentation are all systematically managed. Here are some of the functions associated with the practice:
- Ensuring the collection of highly accurate resident vitals at the chosen intervals.
- Reviewing each resident’s data individually to determine any necessary next steps.
- Analyzing collective vital sign data to draw conclusions. You may find outliers and pick up on trends that require you to look closer at your current workflows and procedures.
- Continually monitoring and building upon your vital sign monitoring practices.
- Training staff on properly using vital sign devices and documenting vital sign data in your electronic health records (EHR) system.
- Drafting procedures for vital sign monitoring and ensuring all staff members are aware of them.
Why vital sign monitoring is key to the success of senior care facilities
The all-encompassing nature of true vital sign monitoring may be overwhelming initially. However, all the above functions combine to produce some amazing benefits for senior care facilities everywhere. Here are a few of the most important ones.
Enhanced vital sign accuracy
Vital sign data is known to be a strong indicator of clinical deterioration. It acts as a warning system, enabling your clinical staff to act quickly from an informed perspective before a resident’s health takes a nosedive. It can also be used to monitor infections and medical conditions and determine whether current treatments are working.
For these reasons, vital sign data must be painstakingly accurate. A single incorrect reading (or, worse — routinely inaccurate readings) could mean worsening health outcomes and inefficient interventions/care plan changes.
Vital sign tools, procedures, and documentation technologies all help to increase the accuracy of vital sign data. Armed with error-free vital sign measurements, your clinical staff will be working from a firm foundation of fact. They’ll be able to access and use vitals data to make a difference in your residents’ health.
Better motivated staff
Nursing home staff often lack motivation and feel unsupported. This is likely due to a lack of sufficient training and subpar workflows pertaining to resident care.
Systemic vital sign monitoring does away with the bulk of those issues. It focuses intently on team training and development, ensuring that the lines of communication are open, that everyone knows their job, and that processes and procedures are in place to guide the team.
With such a system in place, your team will know their value, become skilled in their function(s), rely on other team members, and be able to do their best work for the facility. And the happier your staff is, the fewer instances of turnover you’re likely to have. This makes for a more seamless operation overall.
Reduced penalties and sanctions
Countless compliance measures have been put in place by regulators like CMS and local and federal governments to ensure data compliance and promote maximum care quality. They cover everything from how much direct care nurses must provide to prior authorization specifics, documentation requirements, resident rights, and much more.
Nursing homes in the U.S., Canada, and other North American countries are known to struggle with compliance. These rules are easy to put on the back burner since facilities are only in hot water if they get caught. Still, it’s never a good idea to shrug off the regulations first because the residents suffer the consequences of subpar care. Plus, there are penalties and sanctions your facility could be facing. Some of these include:
- Expensive fines.
- Public display of penalties on website databases.
- Closure of your facility.
- Reputation destruction.
- Jail time.
This is not an exhaustive list of penalties and sanctions noncompliant nursing homes may have to contend with.
Vital sign monitoring involves becoming educated on regulations, putting together frameworks surrounding those regulations, training and retraining staff, and more. When implemented well, these practices result in enhanced compliance, translating to reduced penalties and sanctions.
Better resident satisfaction and ratings
The residents are the only reason your facility exists. And when you take their well-being to heart — by promoting positive health outcomes through vital sign monitoring — they’ll flourish. They’ll receive skillful care and will sing your facility’s praises because of it. This reflects positively on your facility and will likely result in better survey results, CMS Nursing Home Care Compare ratings, and increased word-of-mouth referrals. All of this bodes well for your facility.
As evidenced by these benefits, it’s critical to place vital sign monitoring at the forefront of your SNF’s operations. Doing so can transform your facility in ways you’ve never imagined. And any SNF administrator can do it.
Vital sign monitoring improvement practices for senior care administrators
Learning about the functions involved with vital sign monitoring is helpful, but it only tells part of the story. Here, we’ll cover practical guidance to get your vital sign monitoring initiative off the ground and working for your facility. Here are a few vital sign aspects to keep in mind as you get started:
- Getting a handle on compliance, especially in the realm of vital sign monitoring. For the purposes of improving your facility, this means:
- Reading up on vital sign regulations applicable to your facility
- Drafting protocols for staff
- Training and retraining staff on these regulations
- Performing full audits regularly to ensure ongoing compliance and quick resolution of emerging compliance issues.
- Investing in vital sign monitoring technology. For many skilled nursing facilities, this may include:
- Vital sign monitoring devices with enhanced accuracy or Bluetooth capabilities
- Specialized software with functions that support complete vital sign monitoring
- An updated EHR system geared toward long-term care facilities.
Note: Your software solutions must be capable of supporting vital sign data analysis, seamless data transfer, and streamlined documentation management.
- Formulating a vital sign monitoring game plan. It should include information like short-term goals, longer-term goals, timelines, and objectives. Ensure that your goals are S.M.A.R.T – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. You can be as specific as you’d like with your game plan, including points of contact, projected costs, and more. Choose a short timeline (a quarter or two) or something more long-term (a year or more).
- Learning and implementing documentation best practices. Accurate and timely documentation of vitals data is central to any vital sign monitoring endeavor. Some of the most important documentation best practices include:
- Switching to digital documentation if you haven’t already
- Training staff on the best practices
- Using clear language
- Tracking abnormal vital sign data
It also involves ensuring that any documentation systems are compliant with laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
- Prepare a vital sign monitoring procedure for emergencies. It’s only a matter of time before your facility finds itself in the middle of an emergency. So, it’s essential to determine how your staff will react in such a scenario. Draft a procedure to ensure everyone’s safety and distribute it to relevant parties. Given the nature of emergencies, this step should be done as soon as possible.
A vital sign tool every senior care administrator should explore
Effective, complete vital sign monitoring is a colossal endeavour that could overwhelm any senior care administrator. That’s where the appeal of vital sign monitoring tools comes in. VitalLink is a software solution designed to make vital sign monitoring a lot easier. It was designed specifically for senior care administrators and managers.
The tool integrates with your existing EHR system and works in conjunction with Bluetooth-enabled vitals devices to bring you the following features and benefits:
- Quick and easy syncing of vital sign readings.
- Easy, secured access to vital sign data through your EHR system.
- Streamlined, accurate documentation of vitals.
- PIPA, PIPEDA, and HIPAA-compliant data syncing.
- Easy integration with your existing EHR system.
Here’s how the software works:
- Take your residents’ vitals with Bluetooth-enabled devices. Vitals data will automatically sync to the VitalLink application.
- Update the synced readings with additional information (like pain scales and infection signs) per your current workflow. This step is optional.
- Data from the VitalLink application will sync to your EHR system for further review.
- Real-time alerts, thresholds, and reminders help to keep your team on track.
The application takes a substantial portion of work off your plate and streamlines vital sign management, enabling you and your team to:
- Provide more direct resident care.
- Do away with manual documentation.
- Facilitate compliance in vital sign documentation.
- Catch resident health issues before they become life-threatening disasters.
- Eliminate duplicate data.
- Prevent vitals errors.
These benefits help propel your facility to a higher level, where you can provide life-changing care to your residents with enhanced efficiency and accuracy. This goes a long way towards transforming your facility.
Learn more about VitalLink here.
So, there you have it — how to leverage vital sign monitoring to transform your facility. It’s crucial to remember that the techniques and tips in this article are not recipes for overnight success. However, you'll likely see a measurable difference in your facility after consistently implementing the guidance in the article and getting your hands on the right tools. We hope you find this information to be useful as you work to transform your SNF for the good of your residents.