The new CMS Interpretive Guidelines require that long-term care facilities monitor what residents are doing on their own time, not just their participation in scheduled activities. Further, the new regulations state that this is a responsibility of the whole facility, not just the activity department.

The Resident Observations system lets your entire facility staff record their observations of residents involved in self-directed activities. They can either mark paper worksheets that ProActivity Reports creates, or enter their observations directly into the system from their own networked computers.

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.