Enhancing Psychosocial Care In Nursing Homes

The federal government requires all nursing homes receiving Medicare and/or Medicaid funding (which is about 97% of all nursing homes) to conduct at least quarterly assessments of each resident. They also require that all nursing homes use the same assessment form, the MDS (minimum data set). The MDS was up-dated in October 2010 (now the MDS3.0), and part of the up-date includes important changes related to the screening for potential psychosocial care needs. Once a resident is screened a more thorough assessment may be required, and the results of the screening and assessment should inform the care planning process. The psychosocial items on the MDS3.0 can be used by nursing home social workers to justify the need for more attention to psychosocial care needs, and can help guide care planning, and ultimately better care for residents which can contribute to a higher quality of life. The purpose of this roundtable is to present a White Paper on Psychosocial Care in Nursing Homes (authors: Zimmerman, Zlotnik, Connolly, and Bern-Klug) based on proceedings from a 2010 national multidisciplinary invitational conference. During the roundtable we will also discuss how social work researchers can use MDS3.0 data as a basis for scholarship related to mood, cognition, behavioral symptoms, delirium, pain, psychosocial well-being and transition to the community. We will also discuss ideas for practicing social workers to use the MDS3.0 data to better understand and form the basis for evaluating the care in their own facility.