Long-Term Care Survey Alert
These Indicators Can Help Tell You How a Resident Is Responding to Therapeutic Touch
Here's how you'll know that your touch is welcome, says skilled touch expert. Positive Indicators
• Body relaxation (i.e. shoulders drop, head drops forward, hands open, arms or legs uncrossed, mouth opens)
• Tight muscles soften/relax
• Sounds such as groans, "purr"
• Breath release or sigh
• Change in breathing pattern from chest to belly, fast to slow or irregular to regular
• Genuine smile
• Movement toward you
• Eye contact
• Stomach "gurgling"
• Change in skin color (from white to pink)
• Change in body temperature (from cold to warm)
• Emotional release or expression such as laughing, crying, talking
• Falling asleep, snoring
Negative Indicators
(person is not responding well to your attention and/or touch)• Holding or tightening of body parts
• Clenching fists and/or arm crossing
• Stiffening head or neck
• Clenching teeth or jaw
• Holding breath or change in breathing patterns from belly to chest, slow to fast
• Non-verbal "growl"
• Movement away from you
• Physical or verbal agitation Source: Ann Catlin, LMT, OTR www.compassionate-touch.org Handout from a presentation on skilled touch at the November 2009 American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging annual meeting.
Long-Term Care Survey Alert
- Quality of Care:
Inject These 3 Key Approaches Into Your Medication Review
Find out how these common drugs can trigger the prescribing cascade. Sidestepping unnecessary medications not [...] - Disaster Planning:
Fine-tune Your Disaster Plan With This Real-World Case Scenario
Drilling down to the details can help you weather a flood or other catastrophe. A [...] - Risk Management:
Don't Let Disasters Sink Your Data-Driven Operations
2 broad-stroke efforts protect your electronic and paper medical records. As nursing home providers in [...] - READER QUESTION:
Can a Meddling Family Member Spell HIPAA Trouble?
The answer depends on who's telling the person what. Question: How should our facility handle [...] - Quality of Life:
Develop a Systematic Plan for Meeting Residents' Basic Human Need for Touch
Get staff with this program for staff to use touch in their various professional capacities. [...] - Care Tip:
Integrate Tactile Stimulation and Touch in Activities
An activity expert shares some inside tips for meeting this basic need. Activities provide an [...] - Tool:
These Indicators Can Help Tell You How a Resident Is Responding to Therapeutic Touch
Here's how you'll know that your touch is welcome, says skilled touch expert. Positive Indicators [...] - MDS 3.0 Corner:
Test Your MDS 3.0 Coding Know How
Try your hand at these questions. 1. When do you do the mood assessment in [...] - Clinical News to Use
Are your SNF's rehab therapists obtaining strength measurements on elderly patients? Research published in a [...]
