A multidisciplinary approach to assessing the quality of care in long-term care facilities.

OBJECTIVE We performed an integrated cross-sectional analysis of relationships between long-term care work environments, employee and resident satisfaction, and quality of patient care. METHODS Facility-level data came from a network of 203 skilled nursing facilities in 13 states in the eastern United States owned or managed by one company. K-means cluster analysis was applied to investigate clustered associations between safe resident handling program (SRHP) performance, resident care outcomes, employee satisfaction, rates of workers' compensation claims, and resident satisfaction. RESULTS Facilities in the better-performing cluster were found to have better patient care outcomes and resident satisfaction; lower rates of workers compensation claims; better SRHP performance; higher employee retention; and greater worker job satisfaction and engagement. CONCLUSION The observed clustered relationships support the utility of integrated performance assessment in long-term care facilities.