Health screening practices in rural long-term care facilities

This report summarizes the descriptive data collected and analyzed as part of a larger study examining an educational intervention related to health screening practices in long-term care (LTC) facilities in a rural Midwestern state. The health screening practices examined were prostate-specific antigen testing, manual prostate examination, breast self-examination, clinical breast examination, and mammography. A review of the literature reveals health-screening practices are not being adequately provided to older adults. This includes older adults living in the community and those residing in LTC facilities. The director of nurses (DONs) in 41 LTC facilities were sent a questionnaire to ascertain the DONs' knowledge of American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines for health screening practices, as well as written policies for, and implementation of, the screening practices in the LTC facility. The response rate was 73% (30 of 41). The major finding of this study was that health-screening practices according to ACS were not being implemented in LTC facilities in the rural state under study. This is congruent with current literature regarding health-screening practices in LTC facilities in more urban areas. These findings are not generalizable beyond the state studied, however, implications for nursing relate to increasing continuing education for nurses in LTC facilities about ACS guidelines.