Nursing Home Activities

[Vicki30CNA]

I would be interested in hearing what kinds of activities residents do in other nursing homes. Our residents have complained to me that all they do is eat sleep and read the paper.

We do have group activities like a Lawrence Welk video or nail care. Bingo and Bible study. Coffee Klatch....these are spread out in a seven day week.

I would love to be able to suggest something that would help stimulate these bored people!!!

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

ltcconsultant said:

In the summer of 2006, CMS significantly revised the activities rules and require a very detailed assessment and emphasis on individualized activities and a de-emphasis on groups. They are only now starting to really enforce it. With the new psychosocial outcomes severity guidelines, an improperly run activities department could result in a E or F level deficiency. It was initially stated that it could possibly result in immediate jeopardy, but CMS is now saying there is currently no conceivable situation in which that might occur. I have a copy of the training document issued to surveyors on this, but I have no idea how to post files. Either tell me or send me an email and I'll be happy to give you a copy.

Yeah--we all got worried about getting a G tag because Mrs Maguilicutty couldn't play bingo!

Think about patient centered care. What works for one will not work for all. The short term residents don't want to be with the long term residents. The residents with dementia don't have the attention span for a lot of activities.

I asked a resident one day if she wanted to play bingo. She looked at me with disdain and said, "My dear, I am 98 years old and I have never played BINGO. I certainly am not going to start playing now. Besides...I'm a Methodist and everyone knows BINGO is for Catholics!"

[pumpkin92356]

Bingo is big at my facility. Residents win candy and other stuff. Have to gear activities towards how alert they are.

[angelaQAICnurse]

luvmyseniors said:

I have a little trouble getting several residents to participate in activities, they have a million and one excuses. How have you been effective in changing their habit of staying in their rooms?

Female resident- tea party in her room, make cute invitations for a tea party in this residents room. Invite a couple of active upbeat residents that do participate in activities. Our experience with this is the resident enjoys the interaction so much that they start attending activities on a regular basis.

[ohioln, RN]

These activities sound nice. I used to work in a long term care facility and they had things like this also. They had moderate exercise too, if anybody wanted to join in. A lot of residents did.

[husker_rn, RN]

I work in LTC too and while we have a variety of activities it seems like those with memory loss problems can't participate and get lost in the shuffle. Wish someone had good ideas for those folks.

[ohioln, RN]

Some nursing homes have activities for people with short memory like a social where they have snacks and can socialize as much as they can, or an activity that is simple but fun. Even if an hour afterwards they don't remember, they still had some time of being with others and doing something, which helps them emotionally, even if they don't remember the actual activity or get together. I know there are some people whose memory is that they must be fed and may not be able to talk anymore. Sometimes giving them something to hold that's soft or something like that helps them even if they don't actually mentally know much about what they are doing.

That's what they did in a few homes I've worked in. I hope thought they did this everywhere.

[ikiwfla]

I had to register to this site just to share with you on this subject. I am a Life Enrichment Director in the Columbia, SC area and have been for several years. There are many things that can be done with those that are less cognitive. We love to make edible Playdough. It is safe and can be infused with things such as mint, cherry, vanilla, and chocolate flavors (just to name a few). The aromas of the Playdough also triggers a lot of discussion and memories. Another fun thing to do is no bake baking. We do what we call "Snack Shack" We have to help a great deal, but the residents love making individual servings of rice crispy treats and no bake cookies. Working with their hands is very stimulating for them, and they get a great satisfaction from being able to eat the finished product. It can get a little messy, so drop a cloth and keep the wipes on hand. Easy trivia like simple addition and spelling or even states and capitals can really trigger something in dementia patients. I have a resident that stays lost and can hardly remember her families names, but in playing trivia we found that she could spell almost anything. She even spelled Czechoslovakia with ease. Nobody even knew until then that she was valedictorian of her graduating class in college.

The key to working with the less than cognitive is to think about 5th graders. When you play with a 5th grader, they love to be treated like they are all grown up but you still play 5th grader games. Please don't ever be demeaning towards the elderly though. It is important to remember that they have spent a life time raising families and working jobs and taking care of people just like we do. We all know how hard life can be. Imagine 70, 80, 90 years of it. If nothing else they have earned our respect.

[nd deb]

I am often disappointed with the activity department where I am at. I feel that they could be doing a lot more then what they are doing. Right now it doesn't appear to be much. I used to work activities in a nursing home in a different state and where I am at now not is not the same.. I often wonder how the home gets by with out getting a deficiency in the activities dept on their surveys. I often wonder that they don't even include that dept in the survey. Many times I will see them doing something with the active, mobile, alert residents and nothing with the inactive, immobile, non-alert residents. So many times when I have worked a pm shift a lot of the residents are in bed sleeping till supper time and then they are gotten up and then when they are done with supper they are put to bed. I often wonder it is no wonder why we get residents at night that aren't sleeping. They spend most of their day in bed, sleeping.

[Trubie, LPN]

Most popular at our facility is bingo and trips to the Dollar Store. Everybody loves the Dollar Store, LOL!

[matchsticktgt, LPN]

BINGO is "king" at our facility, but a close second is Wii bowling!

[indigonurse]

I think the best thing to do is ask the residents what type of activity they would like to do. Many seniors I know are like us they prefer to sit on the internet every chance they get. ? The seniors in my family like to lift weights and my mom likes it when a bus takes them to Walmart, the casino and to restaurants. I think the seniors today are pretty trendy.

[Poi Dog]

My old facility would do bingo, have singing groups come in, outings to Wal-mart, and do movie days.