Observations

The new CMS Surveyor’s Interpretive Guidelines have expanded the definition of which resident “activities” must be tracked in long-term care facilities.
In addition to the structured, scheduled group activities that had to be tracked in the past (think “Bingo at 2:00”), the new Guidelines require you to keep track of what residents are up to on their own time by observing their unscheduled self-directed activities.
ProActivity Reports helps you comply with this new regulation with its “Observations” tools.
According to the new regulations, if a CNA sees two residents playing cards in the library, that should be recorded as an Observation. If a staff member notices a resident reading in the courtyard, that would also be an Observation.
The government's new interpretive guidelines stress that resident activities are the responsibility of the whole facility, not just the Activity Department.
To help meet this requirement, ProActivity Reports provides an Observation Worksheet that you can print out and distribute around your facility so that the whole staff can help record Observations of resident activity. Or, they can record their Observations on their own computers and the system will automatically update over your network.
The Observations that you record in this section are automatically posted to each resident’s individual Resident Observation history.
ProActivity Reports offers several reports to help you better understand what your residents are doing on their own time. For a list of some of the available Observation reports, please click here.
You can use these reports when you’re evaluating your activity program and creating your new activity calendars. Knowing more about your residents’ self-directed activities will help you tailor your activity program to better meet their needs.
For example, you can see how many times each resident was observed in a self-directed activity by clicking on the Resident Observations report.
The reports also help you demonstrate to family members, administrators, or surveyors that you’re complying with the new FTAG 248 interpretive guidelines that require you to monitor residents’ self-directed activities.