(Person-Centered Care of Persons with Dementia and Prevention of Abuse)

Section 6121 of the Affordable Care Act requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that nurse aides receive regular training on caring for residents with dementia and on preventing abuse.  CMS created Hand in Hand training in order to address the annual requirement for nurse aide training.  While homes are not required to use Hand in Hand for their dementia and abuse training, it is a wonderful, free resource that CMS has provided to every nursing home in the nation.  CMS sent the packet containing videos and training techniques to all homes in December of 2012. 

The Section for Long-Term Care Regulation realizes that the information appears voluminous, but encourages homes to take a closer look and try to implement at least some of the videos for your direct care staff.  The videos show staff how to relate to residents with dementia and how to appropriately respond to behaviors.  The training is also timely with the CMS initiative to reduce the use of antipsychotics in nursing homes.  The videos show staff how to get to know the person and understand why they are behaving a certain way, so that they can use alternative methods, rather than asking for an antipsychotic medication.  Everyone’s time is valuable; however, there is no sense in reinventing the wheel when CMS has done it for you.  We encourage you to take a look at the Hand in Hand information and try to implement some of the videos in your required training on dementia and abuse prevention.  To inquire about replacement copies of the Hand in Hand toolkit, please visit www.cms-handinhandtoolkit.info/Index.aspx.