Securing and Managing Nursing Home Resources: Director of Nursing Tactics

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Shrinking resources and increasing demands pose managerial challenges to nursing homes. Little is known about how directors of nursing (DON) navigate resource conditions and potential budget-related challenges. This paper describes the demands-resources tensions that DONs face on a day-to-day basis and the tactics they use to secure and manage resources for the nursing department.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a parent study that used a qualitative approach to understand the DON position. A convenience sample of 29 current and previous DONs and administrators from more than 15 states participated in semistructured interviews for the parent study. Data analysis included open coding and thematic analysis.

RESULTS

DONs address nursing service demands-resources tensions in various ways, including tactics to generate new sources of revenue, increase budget allocations, and enhance cost efficiencies.

IMPLICATIONS

The findings provide a rare glimpse into the operational tensions that can arise between resource allocations and demands for nursing services and the tactics some DONs employ to address these tensions. This study highlights the DON's critical role, at the daily, tactical level of adjusting and problem-solving within existing resource conditions. How DONs develop these skills and the extent to which these skills may improve nursing home quality and value are important questions for further practice-, education-, and policy-level investigation.

Exploring the relationship between private equity ownership and nursing home performance: a review

Private equity has acquired multiple large nursing home chains within the past few years; by 2007, it owned 6 of the 10 largest chains. Despite widespread public and policy interest, evidence on the purported impact of private equity on nursing home performance is limited. In our review, we begin by briefly reviewing the organizational and environmental changes in the nursing home industry that facilitated private equity investments. We offer a conceptual framework to hypothesize the relationship between private equity ownership and nursing home performance. Finally, we offer a research agenda focused on the important parameters of nursing home performance: financial performance, and quality of care.