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Tip of the Week: Is your nursing home a five-star dining facility?

Contemporary Long-Term Care Weekly, February 7, 2008

Nursing homes now face the growing demands of CMS to improve residents' quality of life, which includes providing good nutrition.

There are steps your nursing home can take to improve the nutrition of its residents, says registered dietitian Maria McGuinness, RD, CDE. You can start by looking at the overall dining experience you offer to residents.

Your state inspectors are certainly watching now that CMS adopted procedures for surveyors to observe resident dining in your facility.

So consider these suggestions and how your facility stacks up:

• Your facility needs to embrace mealtime and nutrition as important. Involve all your staff members in helping and monitoring the nutritional status of each resident, advises McGuinness.
• Train your staff. Your dietitian should participate in educational programs that include nutrition assessment, care planning, evaluation, counseling, dining skills, and food services.
• Evaluate staffing levels. Are there enough staff to help feed residents who need assistance? Or does the food get cold before each resident is fed? Is there enough staff to help residents get to the dining room?
• Look at creative methods and be open to ideas for feeding residents.
• Take a look at environmental issues. Do residents like their dining room, or is it cold, hot, or too loud?
• Evaluate the dining experience. As well as a pleasant environment, "the food also has to be good," says McGuinness. "That's a biggie."
• Evaluate menus, preparation, and presentation of food to residents. If residents hate a particular meal, take if off the menu. "I look at it as if they're my customers. If they don't like macaroni and cheese, take if off the menu," McGuinness says. If you have a large number of residents with Italian, Asian, or Portuguese descent, you might include a lot of ethnic entrees on your menus. Tailor your menus to your region.
• Evaluate your food supplies.
• Look at your eating "equipment," such as dishes, cups, plates, and utensils. Does your facility have enough equipment? Do some residents need special cups or equipment to help them feed themselves?

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