Keeping Families Up-to-Date in the COVID-19 Environment
The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living have developed communication strategies to keep the families of residents informed during the COVID-19 crisis. These suggestions are not state or federal requirements, but using them can help families feel less anxiety due to visiting restrictions and know that their loved one is safe and being cared for and protected.
There are two main steps to take:
- Commit to communicating weekly with families with an individual status update on their specific resident.
- Provide a weekly update to explain what is happening within the facility, and what steps the facility is taking to mitigate and control the spread of COVID-19.
Things to consider prior to communicating:
- Be aware of non-verbal communication—body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, rate of speech, and frame of mind.
- Make sure that what you are communicating is as complete as possible.
- Think about potential questions that families who are experiencing fear, guilt, anxiety, frustration, and relief might ask.
During the actual conversation, there are a few suggestions to use:
- Be empathetic and acknowledge the difficulty of the situation.
- Use reflective listening to ensure that the communication back and forth is clearly understood.
- Be honest and genuine and speak slowly and clearly.
- Document each interaction with family members.
Helpful, detailed information for implementing these communication strategies can be viewed at: https://www.ahcancal.org/facility_operations/disaster_planning/Documents/Communication-Strategies-Families.pdf
Compliance Perspective
Failing to keep families of residents informed about the status of their individual family members or failing to keep them informed about what is happening in the nursing home/assisted living center during a crisis like COVID-19 may result in families thinking staff are not providing residents with quality care. This may result in claims of negligence, abuse, and provision of substandard quality of care, in violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures, including the forthcoming additional government reporting guidelines a facility will be required to make to residents and residents’ responsible parties.
- Train staff on following the suggestions to consider prior to and during communication with residents and families.
- Periodically audit to ensure that the facility is communicating on a weekly basis with residents’ families.
