Oasis 2.0

Oasis 2.0 has been reconfigured to better meet the needs of long term care during the COVID pandemic and is being provided at no cost by AgingME.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U1QHP33080 02 00, Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, Year Two-total award amount $754,907.00. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by, HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

​Oasis is now in use in over 1200 nursing homes in several states, helping residents with dementia enjoy a higher quality of life.

What is Oasis?

Oasis 2.0 is a unique approach to achieving collaborative, interdisciplinary person-directed care.​

Staff who went through the original training dubbed it “Oasis” because it captured the sense of calm and safety they felt -- even in difficult situations.

Deliver competent and compassionate care

Based on author Susan Wehry MD's 30 years of experience and informed by the research of Thomas Kitwood and Jiska Cohen-Mansfield, Oasis helps staff deliver competent and compassionate care. Oasis helps nursing homes complete their culture change journey from patienthood to personhood. Most importantly, Oasis helps residents achieve the highest quality of life.

Learn more:

Journal of the American Medical Association

A new study on Oasis was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Abstract and full text:

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2618819

Key points:

Question

Can nursing homes reduce antipsychotic use by training staff that behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia are the communication of unmet resident needs?

Findings

This quasi-experimental longitudinal study of the OASIS communication training program examined antipsychotic use before and after intervention training in 93 nursing homes. OASIS nursing homes had greater antipsychotic use reductions compared with 831 nonintervention nursing homes, but this influence waned over time.

Meaning

Training nursing home staff to understand challenging resident behavior as the communication of unmet needs can reduce antipsychotic use, but training needs to be reinforced for a sustained influence.