Plans of Care: Discussing Supervision Standards of Care Expert Article

In this article, supervised care expert, Dr. Lisa Thorsen broadly discusses Plans of Care as they apply across a range of supervised care environments. The experts at Robson Forensic are regularly retained to evaluate the quality of care provided to individuals within educational, health care, and group living environments.

Supervision Plans of Care

Based upon the setting, an individual with a disability can be known as a student, resident, patient, client or consumer. These settings vary and may include, among others, schools, residential rehabilitation facilities, hospitals, nursing homes and long term care facilities.

Regardless of the setting or the descriptive term, an individual with a disability that is served by an agency or system requires a Plan for services. This Plan changes in format and title depending upon the setting and State but essentially, is a document centered around a person’s individual needs that describe the services that person requires to reach his/her maximum potential.

This person centered Plan is holistic and inclusive. It is developed by a team of professionals, paraprofessionals and/or direct care workers with the individual and, when appropriate, the family/guardian. It describes a person’s:

• Disability
• Psycho social history
• Functional impairments that result from the manifestations of the disability
• Strengths & limitations
• Objectives & goals
• Methods used to help him/her attain these goals
• Method of evaluation

The Plan is used as a communication tool among staff, the individual with a disability and his/her family. Staff responsible for its implementation need to be knowledgeable of its contents in order to have the tools necessary to support individual success. The ongoing observation, education, documentation and communication of and about the individual provide staff the data they need to evaluate the Plan.

Incidents resulting in injury may occur when the Plan is not effectively communicated, developed, implemented or evaluated.

Our experts can evaluate the adequacy of the plan development based on the individual’s needs, the extent to which staff and/or caregivers implemented the plan, and whether or not the plan was evaluated on an ongoing basis and in a timely manner to reflect the changing needs of the individual to ensure their health, safety and well being.

Contact Dr. Lisa Thorsen to discuss your case and determine which of our experts if best suited to address the technical aspects of your case.

Supervised Care Investigations

The quality of supervision is regularly called into question in the course of legal disputes. Our experts assess supervision practices and policies in a range of governmental, private, and institutional settings.

For more information visit our Supervision/Education practice page.

Featured Expert

Lisa A. Thorsen, Ed.D., C.R.C., C.P.S.I.

Supervised Care & Rehabilitation Counseling Expert

Dr. Lisa Thorsen is a care expert who evaluates the adequacy of administrative and procedural policies, and investigates safety issues related to injuries at organizationally based facilities. She has… read more.