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Business View Magazine
hours are broken down into 5 minute intervals of ob-
servation. During the observation period, an assessor
will note everything he or she sees, hears, smells, or
feels, with specific notation made to any interaction or
conversation between a resident and others. Follow-
ing the observation, the assessor grades the 5-minute
block of time into one of the following categories: posi-
tive social care, positive personal care, neutral care,
negative protective/controlling care, and negative re-
strictive care. The ultimate aim is to have only positive
care provided to residents.
Jake Wiebe, Salem Home’s Finance Officer, details
how the QUIS model became integral to Salem Home’s
treatment paradigm: “This goes back a couple of years
when we attended a leadership summit,” he relates.
“The point in the summit was: ‘To speak for those
who cannot speak for themselves.’ We can’t wait for
the residents to tell us what they need because many
times they’re unable to verbalize or communicate their
needs to us. We do the measuring, using the QUIS tool
to measure what the resident is actually experiencing.
And those measurements drive our decisions.”
Janzen elaborates: “The QUIS is becoming our road
map on what we’re doing, how we approach care, and
what kind of education the staff needs. We literally
measure what we do. When we make changes, we’re
not just making changes because we think it’s a good
idea. There is a process in place that determines what
kind of interactions and what kind of an actual, lived
experience a resident has. It’s not what we think it is,
but what the resident’s actual experience is. And that
really changes how we look at things and what we will
do next. Through the results of the evaluation, we have
made physical changes to our building, attempted to
make the atmosphere more home-like, and offered
education to our staff on how to best care for persons
affected with dementia - focusing activities on building
upon strengths that remain, not focusing on what can
no longer be done.”
