Why do seniors move?  It’s not always to be closer to their children. A recent study conducted by AARP Knowledge Management in conjunction with GfK NOP, suggests that seniors age 60 and over who choose to relocate upon retirement cite “opportunities to meet and make friends with other seniors” as the most significant factor when determining their satisfaction with a new community. Other factors that influence new resident satisfaction include environmental conditions, cost of living, quality of local government services and adult education opportunities. Those seniors who choose not to relocate cite high quality local government services, little pollution, low local taxes, low crime, and employment opportunities as the top reasons for their continued satisfaction with their long term communities. To read the full report, go to http://www.aarp.org/research/reference/publicopinions/migration.html

The Goldman Mature Market Report has captured the Platinum Award for best web-based magazine in the League of American Communications Professionals annual Spotlight Awards competition.  The highly-competitive contest recognizes excellence in professional communications.  This year, more than 900 entries were submitted from across the U.S. and six other countries in the competition’s various categories.

Judges said the Goldman Mature Market Report “really provides a valuable resource to the target audience” of senior living executives.  They also lauded the GMMR’s “outstanding creativity” and said it “definitely gains the audience’s attention.”

The Goldman Mature Market Report beat out very stiff competition in the contest, including web-based publications produced by Wells Fargo & Co.; BASF Coatings AG; and the Bahama Breeze restaurant chain.

“Since we established the Goldman Mature Market Report in March of this year, our readership and subscriber base has continued to grow and we’ve received many positive comments from senior living executives,” said Audrey Knoth, executive vice president of Goldman & Associates Public Relations, which publishes the Goldman Mature Market Report. “It’s very gratifying to have the report’s quality and creativity singled out by such a prestigious competition.”

A pill in a nursing home pharmacy can travel between six and 10 people before it goes into the mouth of a resident, says Dr. Jill Scott-Cawiezell – and that opens the door to a lot of serious mistakes.

And when they occur – when a resident receives a wrong medication, or a wrong dosage, or medication at the wrong time – the first thing everyone from state regulators to nursing home administrators asks is: Who’s to blame?

And therein lies a problem, says the University of Missouri assistant professor of nursing.

“The state regulator asks, who did you fire?” says Dr. Scott.

That doesn’t exactly lend itself to a culture of openness and improvement.

Preventing sometimes-fatal errors, she says requires an internal, institutional structure that encourages regular dialogue involving all levels of staff, from top-tier supervisors to those in “the trenches.” Since many errors result when staff from one shift fails to brief staff from the next shift, communicating new information about residents and their medications is especially critical.

The structure also should include coaching – working with new staff to make sure procedures are carried out carefully and looking for better ways to deliver services.

“Mistakes happen because the system is not fail-safe,” says Dr. Scott. “Just the journey of a single pill is long.”

She believes technology is under-utilized in nursing homes. She estimates that less than 50 in the entire country have their residents’ medicines accessible on a computer screen.