PHInational.org

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has revised its Life Safety Code handbook to include provisions in the health care occupancy rules that support making nursing homes more home-like environments.

Four proposals recommended by the Pioneer Network to “create home in the nursing home” have been included in the 2012 edition of the NFPA 101^® Life Safety Code^®, according to a statement by the national culture-change organization.

The proposals that have been adopted, with some restrictions and providing that certain criteria are met, are:

• Kitchens serving no more than 30 residents will be permitted to be open to the corridor and other spaces, and either residential or commercial stoves or cooktops may be used.
• Furniture may be provided in corridors.
• Combustible decorations will be permitted in resident rooms, corridors, on doors, and in common space.
• Gas or electric fireplaces will be allowed to be used in smoke compartments that contain sleeping rooms, but not within individual sleeping rooms.

The Pioneer Network plans to advocate for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to also accept these revisions, followed by states.

New Dining Practice Standards

Additionally, the Pioneer Network has proposed new Dining Practice Standards (1.4 MB pdf) that “support individualized care and self-directed living” for people living in nursing homes.

The proposed food and dining standards, such as individualized nutrition approaches and a diabetic/calorie-controlled diet, “reflect evidence-based research available to-date as well as current thinking which is in some cases in advance of research,” a press statement from the group explains.

The Dining Practices Standards have already been agreed to by 12 national clinical standard setting organizations, including the American Association of Long Term Care Nursing and National Association of Directors of Nursing Administration in Long Term Care.

The Pioneer Network is planning to submit the Dining Practices Standards to CMS as well as to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control, and the long-term care community, and anticipates that CMS “will refer to these new agreed-upon standards of practice within [their] long-term care interpretive guidance where they fit.”

– by Deane Beebe

“Defining Dining … It’s About Me” is the theme of this year’s National Residents’ Rights Week, an annual event sponsored by the Consumer Voice.

The annual event, which has been held since 1981, is designed to “honor residents living in all long-term care facilities,” according to the Consumer Voice’s website.

This year’s Residents’ Rights Week will take place from October 3-9, and will focus on improving residents’ dining experiences.

To promote the event, the Consumer Voice has compiled a cookbook containing recipes that were submitted by various long-term care stakeholders — residents, staff, family members, citizen advocates, and more.

More information about National Residents’ Rights Week, including a downloadable packet of materials to help facilities plan events for the week, are available at the Consumer Voice’s website.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) partnered with the Pioneer Network on May 14 to sponsor an online symposium to address dining initiatives that promote culture change in nursing homes and explore the potential and perceived regulatory barriers to making such transformations. Read the full story