Nursing homes guide revised, tested locally

For the past 10 years, MU nursing professor Marilyn Rantz has worked to create a way to help people measure the quality of care provided by nursing homes for their loved ones.

“I’ve always had a real interest in wanting to understand what quality care is in nursing homes and how to improve it in nursing homes,” said Rantz, who worked in a nursing home for 12 years.

The latest edition of the “Observable Indicators of Nursing Home Care Quality Instrument” – known as the OIQ instrument – is the 10th version Rantz has developed. The OIQ can be used by consumers or professionals to determine the quality of care in any nursing home.

With about 76 million baby boomers in the United States ranging from 40 to 60 years old, quality care for older Americans is becoming increasingly important. The aging of baby boomers was in the back of her mind since she began the research, Rantz said.

“Part of the interest in doing research was knowing we were going to have a lot more older people,” she said. The latest edition has fewer questions, only 30, than previous versions of the OIQ.

Rantz co-wrote “The New Nursing Homes” with Mary Zwygart-Stauffacher of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Lori Popejoy, a doctoral student at MU. Published in 2001, it couples an older version of the OIQ with other information for people searching for a nursing home.

Cindy Forbis, executive director at The Bluffs, a Columbia nursing home, encourages the use of the OIQ. It was tested at The Bluffs before the book came out.

“Placing a loved one in a nursing home is very emotional,” she said. “Using the instrument will help take some of the emotion out.”

More than 40 nurses, four retirees who worked for the government as surveyors, and six consumers took part in the research, said Marcia Flesner, the project coordinator.

Copies of the OIQ instrument are free and can be sent to anyone, Flesner said. “I sent a copy to someone in Cuba.”