Introduction
Meeting the psychosocial needs of geriatric residents is a vital part of nursing home care. Psychosocial well-being effects the resident’s life, health, and potential to thrive at the highest level of functioning. The importance of comprehensive Social Services care plans is emphasized by the Psychosocial Outcome Severity Guide.
At least half of all nursing home residents have a dementing illness, most commonly Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia. The prevalence of depression in nursing homes is 20% - 25% (compared with 3% in the community). 13% of nursing home residents develop a new episode of major depression within a one year period. In a study conducted over 12 months, residents with depression had a 59% increase in mortality.
This manual provides information and tools to improve assessments and interventions for meeting psychosocial needs. Regulations, survey protocols, and excerpts from the RAI User’s Manual give the basis of industry standards and quality of care. Care plans are provided for every possible problem generated from the MDS 3.0 assessment entries.
Assessment forms and Quality Assurance audits are included, as well as a complete advance copy of the new Psychosocial Outcome Severity Guide.
For the 2009 Fifth Edition, care plans have been updated to ensure compliance with the change to MDS version 3.0 and with all of the federal regulations and guidelines updated during the past year.
When the Psychosocial Outcome Severity Guide became effective in 2006, it became apparent that CMS expected Social Services to be much more involved in the care planning process. The care plans in this manual cover the possible psychosocial needs residents may have in response to issues, illnesses, medications, and/or other factors.
Text, care plans, and forms specific to certain medications in the Psychotropic Medication section reflect the 2006 changes to the State Operations Manual, Appendix P, Medication Pass and Pharmacy Services.
The CD-ROM contains all of the forms and care plans from the book, and these can easily be made resident and facility specific using a word processor.