PLEASE help - advice needed on how to set up room for dd patient

[shadane]

I am hoping that you all can share your experiences with me !! I am caring for a patient who lives in a nursing facility who is not doing a good job finding a way to make his room appropriate for him AND to pass state inspection. He spends most of his day in a broda chair - he is non-ambulatory but can crawl and currently has a room that is just covered with mattresses on the floor and room. He will not stay in a bed - and uses all of the surface area of his room to crawl and play with his stuffed animals. How do other facilities deal with patients like this?? How are their rooms set up so that their quality of life is maximized but they are still able to pass a state inspection?? I am hoping someone can help !!! Thank you in advance !!!!

[virgo,student nurse, CNA]

Hello, I am a house manager for dd individuals. i have had this issue myself. If the client is non verbal but can show you clues of what they may like then you can branch off from there.With my clients I have painted the room, and then added accent pieces to match the room, such as bed in a bag, pillows for the bed and other chairs in the room, a colorful rug, pictures on the walls. In my facility we can not have any bedding on the floor. Perhaps some shelves on the wall to show off his stuffed animals, the ideas are endless. Hope this helps.

[Larrythenurse]

What specifics of licensure are you worried about? If you have made earnest and repeated attempts to understand this person's non-verbal communication and determined this is what he wants, his treatment team should come up with a way to support this. Your documentation should reflect a multidisciplinary approach to determining and meeting the client's needs, considering factors of productivity, integrity, safety, integration, etc. It may be that this person's life-style choices are such to preclude meeting certain licensure issues, in which case proper documentation to support this should be used when applying for a variance.

I would also question why this person is in a nursing home. Is there really no other community based setting more appropriate for him? Does he also have medical needs?