Member Profile:

Denise

RN/MDS Coordinator From Montana, United States


About Denise: I have been a nurse in long-term care for nearly 32 years, and started working in healthcare as a CNA when I was 15. I started caregiving at the age of 10, helping my grandma Flossie get dressed. It is never dull, always challenging and the rewards are innumerable! I love the challenge of helping the residents and over the years I would say they have taught me so much more than I could ever learn in a textbook. I am so thankful I was given this website to use as a resource to be an even better care plan writer—not just for nursing but activities and dietary needs as well. Thank you!!

4 Comment

Denise 8th Sep 2023 RN/MDS Coordinator

Forum

Are you looking for a single person or a group? For a group there is Pin The Tail On The, etc. Or the stick and beat the paper macheti open for the prize inside. That is a party game but could be done for one as well. And there is the old toy that is round with holes in it of different shapes. For each hole there is a piece that fits in the handled toy. When you finish putting all the pieces in the holes, the ball can be picked up and carried back to its home, or opened and repeated. Works for one or a group as well. It is an old toy for small children learning colors and shapes. It would be interesting to see how it works for someone who is visually impaired.
Denise 8th Sep 2023 RN/MDS Coordinator

Forum

I thought I had heard of that as well. Just not sure where to find it. There is also "Where's George?"
Denise 8th Sep 2023 RN/MDS Coordinator

Forum

I think no-bake cookies would be another good easy baking-but-not-baking thing to make. They can be made with varying ingredients to be sugar-free, dairy-free or gluten-free to fit all diets. And they are nutritious, and can be easily fortified with protein powder to be extra-nutritious for the ones that need that as well.
Denise 8th Sep 2023 RN/MDS Coordinator

Forum

Writing a diversional therapy care plan starts with what you know about your resident/person you are writing it for. It is about finding out about what their passions were earlier in life, what or where their thoughts tend to center or surround now, and then what their functional abilities are now. It helps if you are able to involve family and friends in the history gathering process. They are the best folks to tell you all about the person. Then you interview the person to find out what is important to them, what they would like to see happen for them at their stage in life, and their goals for the rest of their life. Then interview others, if any, who are involved in their care, what they have witnessed, seen or heard from or of the resident while they go throughout their day. The person may be different at night than they are during the day. Then you get creative with your co-workers. Plan can be initially rough-drafted by one individual. Then meet with a group and fine-tune it, bringing out any and all ideas from the group. A lot of times the care plan templates are built into the electronic documentation software your company purchases for your facility. So writing care plans from scratch has gotten to be a forgotten science in some sense of the word. The process never changes. Make sure your goals are SMART goals. Here again, our care plans get reviewed every 90 days to ensure they are kept up-to-date with the changes in the resident as they happen/occur. Some facilities just have electronic care plans. Others have paper, and there are even some that have both. Interventions should be simple with common language to keep them understandable by all. Abbreviations can be ambiguous to some readers. Diversional is also known as behavioral. Sundowning is just one behavior. There are many. Resistance to care is another behavior. So do not pass up this website's resources (goldencarers.com). Search for alternative words in the search window if you cannot find any results for diversional. We try to go with wherever the resident is instead of trying to reorient them into our reality. Be their daughter or family member, or fit yourself into their reality in whatever scenario they are living in that moment, and then talk them through it, calming them in whatever way you can. Some care plans have more than one goal. Each goal should have interventions to get you to the goal from where you or the individual are now. The goals are developed from where the resident would like to go with their life, what they would like to do, what they would like to achieve, what they wish for, etc. I recently had a resident who is on oxygen and is healing a wound on her foot share with me that her biggest health issue was her weight. I had asked her what she felt her biggest health issue to overcome was. Turns out her weight had been her lifelong problem. She did not see the wound or her breathing as larger issues than her weight. It was an eye-opener for me. This was a lot more information than I thought I would share, actually. Hope it helps. If you have questions, please reach out (email). I will see if I can download a care plan template, or scan one into my computer and save it as a file so I can send you a link. We recently had a cyber attack and had to develop some templates for acute care, so I should still have one somewhere handy.
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