Posted by Tammy (66.222.126.130) on September 06, 2003 at 10:04:34:
In Reply to: participation records posted by Ann on August 31, 2003 at 16:01:57:
After reading all of this bickering about attendance records, I am ashamed to hear this from professional like yourselves. First of all, taking attendance does not take that long to do if you have the right system. We had a two-sided page for six monthes worth of attendance for each resident. Each side was set up in three columns for each month. We used a number coding system ( 10 = resident council, 70 = music hour, etc.) The programs were grouped according to catagories: 20's equalled religious programs, 70's equalled music programs, etc. We used recipe cards for each program. At the top of the card was the program name, number and which floor(if necessary) the program was located on. We then divided the card in two (right side/left side) to fit more names. We left a small space on the far left side of each portion to mark attendance as we gathered for the program (A=active, P=passive, R=refused, N=non-responsive during program, B=in bed, O=other (not available to attend), I=ill). Next to this space we wrote the resident's room number and name. After the program we transfered the information in the attendance books (we had one for each floor), which are kept in the activity office. Since the room numbers on the card and in the attendance books are in order, it should only take 5 minutes or so to take attendance. The names on the cards were written in pencil so that as residents moved or changed rooms, the card could easily be updated. I'm not saying that everyone has time to take attendance after each program, but should be able to during resident lunch time and again before you go home. Once both sices of the attendance sheets are full, we transfered them into a larger binder for past attendance records, and placed new forms in the other attendance books. Eventually the past attendance records were stored for two years in a filing cabinet before being tossed.
The next part of the responses I have read are about attendance being a waste of time. How can you possibly be careplanning for residents if you don't refer to your attendance records? We used another form (copies of program code form highlighted to represent activities attended during the quarter)to work on quarterly care conference information. If you have set appropriate goals that are measurable it's the attendance records where this information comes from. For example: Resident will attend 1-2 activity programs per week for social stimulation. You can refer to your attendance records to see if they are meeting their goal or not. Another example: Resident expresses a desire to attend religious programs. You can look on your attendance records to see if they have been attending. If not, why aren't they - have they not been invited/assisted to program or have they lost interest? Attendance records go hand in hand with careplanning and the activity assessment of each resident. What I find to be a waste of time are the RAP summaries.
As for 1:1 activities, we only provide that for residents who truely need that service. We add a progress note page behind the resident's attendance page to jot down what was done and how the resident responsed. This sure will save you a lot of grief when having to answer to a surveyor (if you are meeting the resident's need and careplan).
I suggest that you look at your current attendance sytems and see if you can find a better and more efficent way to record your attendance. I didn't mean to sound negative in any way, I'm just offering a suggestion that maybe no one has thought of. And by the way, where I work, whoever led the program was responsible for taking the attendance.