Dining Room Supervision Regulations

[gerilyn]

We are renovating our Dining Room Experience and were informed by the Dietary Dept. that a Nurse has to be physically present from the time the 1st resident comes into the room till the last resident leaves. There are always CNA's present and at least 2 Nurses go in during the meal and supervise and are readily available. I can not find a CMS regulation that states it has to be a Nurse from start to finish. If there is we will have to adjust medication administration times and Nurse's scheduled shifts. Any help finding the regulation will be appreciated.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

my understanding was that a nurse had to be on the same floor, same general area....before the first resident was served and until the last resident was finished...

[sasha2lady]

Wish I could help you with that..but I work in LTC also...and up until this past year....we never had to have a nurse in the DR.....we were always available......When I was an aide....I did it by myself....no other aide or nurse with me...then it started changing. We only have to stay in to make sure that the aides take the plates off correctly and offer an alternate if needed.....I think its a lil bit stupid seeing as how they are trained also in first aide and know how to get us in a flash. We have a hard time with this because of our med passes and never ending charting we do..plus we have alot of admits coming in right in the middle of meal time.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Is it one of those urban myths we all subscribe to? I've been told since day one (which was about 20 years ago) that a nurse had to check each tray before it was served. I can not find it in the regs and neither can anyone from corporate. We just do it as a good thing to do. Never got tagged for not doing it. I can't see why you'd need a nurse in the dining room. Do the residents ever get left alone in the hall or their rooms? If yes, then why would you need a licensed person just because they are in the dining room...especially if the trays haven't been served? As always you should do what your facility dictates, but don't you wish SOMEONE would tell you why?

[Reigen]

The facillity that I work in requires at least one person who is currently CPR certified in the dining room during meal times. This does not mean only a licensed nurse. I have never heard or seen a Federal or my State's regulation that a licensed nurse had to be present .