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Standards for Personal Care in Nursing Homes

On Behalf of | Sep 28, 2016 | Articles

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Nursing homes in California – just like care facilities in any other state, have a number of laws and standards in place created to help ensure that patients and residents receive the level of care that they deserve. After all, when someone requests and pays for the help of a nursing home facility to look after a vulnerable adult, they do so with the understanding that the individual in question will receive the appropriate support.

While California laws regarding nursing homes address a number of different concerns that the facilities must be aware of when providing care, two of the main issues include standards for medical care, and standards for personal care.

Standards for Personal Care

Nursing homes in California are required by law to support fantastic nutrition and hygiene in their residents. For example, when it comes to meals, nursing homes must ensure that their residents have access to nutritional, nourishing, and palatable diets that meet the needs for daily nutrition each person has.

What’s more, the care home must also provide additional care for residents who have special dietary requirements. Aside from food, nursing home law require that patients also have constant access to fresh and plentiful supplies of fluids to help them avoid dehydration.

The laws regarding food in nursing home facilities require:

  • Every home to offer enough assistance that nursing home patients can finish meals when they need help with holding utensils, or other tasks.
  • Every home uses preparation methods that are intended to promote salient nutritional value, flavor, and appearance in food.
  • Every home must follow and design menus that are able to meet any necessary standards for nutrition that have been put in place.
  • Every home is able to reasonably accommodate the preferences that patients lay out regarding meal times and food.

Besides dietary care, personal care also involves looking after daily hygiene and comfort. For example, residents must be provided with any assistance they might need when bathing, dressing, eating, or meeting other personal needs. The ability of the patient to carry out any daily activities should not be allowed to decline unless their medical condition means that such an issue is unavoidable. Nursing homes must maintain dry, clean skin for patients, and clothing must be consistently changed so that they remain free of offensive odors and substances.

Looking after Residents

Nursing homes in California are required by law to care for their residents to the best of their ability in all aspects of that resident’s life. This means not only providing them with the medication they need, but also ensuring they stay within acceptable realms of personal hygiene, avoid the issues associated with isolation, and maintain their mental and emotional health as much as possible. Failure to provide the right level of care is what leads to lawsuits for many nursing homes.

To learn more about the laws surrounding nursing homes and nursing home care in California, please contact the lawyers at Makarem & Associates, either via email at [email protected], or by phone at 310.312.0299. We can determine the viability of your case during our initial no-cost consultation.