Personal Care Standards in the Nursing Home
What are personal care standards?
Personal care standards are a set of expectations regarding personal hygiene that you should notice are being completed for your loved one. Nursing home staff are expected to provide adequate hygiene care to promote optimum health.
When you visit your loved one in the nursing home or are deciding on the type of nursing home to place your loved one in, look closely at residents’ physical appearance. The following represent signs that the nursing home provides quality personal care. If you do not see these signs of quality care, address it with nursing home administration or look for a different nursing home.
Hair - Combed/brushed, no bed head, free of odor, grease or dandruff
Eyes - Clear of drainage or matter, makeup on if resident desires, glasses on with lenses clean, glasses in good repair
Face - Clean without food, dried liquid or medicine around mouth, clean shaven (males-daily, females-preference), neck shaved
Nose - No nasal drainage running or dried, no hard matter in nostrils, nose hair trimmed
Mouth - No food or debris on teeth, no coating on tongue, dentures/partials in mouth and in good repair
Lips - not chapped or cracked
Ears - No noticeable wax build-up in ears, no dried matter behind ears, hairs shaved from and around ears, hearing aides in ears correctly and not ringing
Clothing - street clothes on, seasonal clothing, clothing fits, coordinates without missing buttons, not torn, no stains or soiling with urine, socks with shoes/slippers that are clean and fit
Hands - Clean without food or other matter on them; fingernails trimmed without jagged, torn edges; no dirt, food, etc. under nails
Feet - Trimmed toe nails without jagged edges, no cracks or open areas
Skin - clean, moist, no tenting
Positioning – Sitting straight in wheelchair, not leaning, feet evenly on foot pedals, assistive devices in place, buttocks at back of wheelchair seat
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