Admission & Resident Rights [LTC-01-EN]

Admission & Resident Rights in Long-Term Care [LTC-01-EN]

Admission to a long-term care facility is one of the most consequential transitions a person can face, yet international evidence consistently shows that it is also one of the most poorly managed. Studies across WHO European Region member states document widespread deficits in informed-consent processes, financial disclosure, and rights communication at the point of admission — deficits that correlate directly with downstream harm, including inappropriate discharge, suppressed grievances, and diminished quality of life. In Georgia and the broader South Caucasus, where long-term care infrastructure is expanding rapidly amid demographic ageing, the absence of standardised admission frameworks creates systemic vulnerability for some of the most dependent members of society. This course addresses that gap by equipping professionals with the specific competencies required to make admission documentation a genuine instrument of resident protection rather than an administrative formality.

The course is grounded in the ASF Long-Term Care accreditation standard and aligns its requirements with the WHO Quality of Care framework, Joint Commission International (JCI) long-term care standards, and the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, which establish autonomy, dignity, participation, and care as non-negotiable rights rather than aspirational ideals. Content is delivered through structured didactic modules reinforced by annotated case scenarios drawn from real admission and discharge disputes, enabling participants to move from regulatory knowledge to applied clinical judgement. Teaching methodology follows a competency-based design in which each module maps to a discrete, assessable professional behaviour.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between legally compliant and deficient admission agreements by applying ASF and JCI documentation criteria to sample contracts.
• Implement plain-language disclosure protocols that meet informed-consent standards for residents with varying degrees of cognitive and health literacy.
• Construct a facility-level financial transparency procedure that satisfies regulatory requirements for fee disclosure, itemised billing, and advance notice of cost changes.
• Apply established safeguard criteria to evaluate the clinical and ethical legitimacy of proposed involuntary or emergency discharge decisions.
• Design a grievance resolution pathway that fulfils WHO Quality of Care accountability requirements and provides residents and families with accessible, timely recourse.
• Analyze institutional admission practices against the resident-centred philosophy of the ASF Long-Term Care standard, identifying specific process gaps and prioritising corrective action.

Who Should Attend

This course is intended for physicians, nurses, social workers, and administrative managers working in licensed long-term care facilities, residential homes for older adults, and palliative or post-acute rehabilitation settings. It is particularly relevant for professionals entering long-term care practice for the first time, for facility directors preparing for ASF accreditation review, and for quality and compliance officers responsible for admissions governance. Mid-career clinicians transitioning from acute hospital environments to residential care settings will find the regulatory orientation and rights-based framework especially valuable.

Course Structure

The course is delivered entirely online through the GMJ Academy platform and comprises four structured modules with an estimated study time of three to four hours; participants complete a scenario-based assessment upon conclusion of each module, and a cumulative final assessment is required for certification. Successful completion awards verified CME/CPD credit recognised under the Georgian Medical Council continuing professional development framework.