Patients need certain physical abilities and capacities (motor skills, symptom relief) to take a bath (or shower). They may need help from a person or special equipment to accomplish this activity. Their physical abilities can be developed or maintained by managing their symptoms or through rehabilitative services. Getting better at bathing themselves means they may need less assistance or equipment to bathe. This may be a sign that they are meeting the goals of their care plan or that their health status is improving.
Being able to bathe themselves is important so they can be more independent, stay clean, feel better about themselves, and stay healthy. It is especially important if they don't have informal caregivers who can help them when their home health caregiver is not there or their home health care ends.
Most people value being able to take care of themselves. In some cases, it may take more time for them to bathe themselves than to have someone bathe them. But, it is important that home health care staff and informal caregivers encourage patients to be as independent as possible. Home health staff also can evaluate their needs for, and teach them how to use, special devices or equipment to help increase their ability to perform some activities without the assistance of another person.
If patients can bathe with little help, they are more independent, feel better about themselves, and stay more active. This can positively affect their overall health. Patients' ability to bathe themselves may help them live independently as long as possible in their own home.
If patients stop taking care of themselves, it may mean that their health has gotten worse. Some patients will lose function in their basic daily activities even though the home health care agency provides good care.
This is one of 41 OASIS-based measures for which Medicare-certified home health agencies receive performance reports from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The reports cover Medicare and Medicaid adult non-maternity patients and compare each agency's rates to national reference rates and to the agency's own rates in the previous year. The reports provide home health agencies with information they can use to improve quality of care by targeting care practices that influence specific patient functioning and health status, as part of a comprehensive quality improvement approach.
This measure is also one of ten Home Health Quality Initiative measures; a resource to help consumers compare home health agencies, and they are intended to motivate home health agencies to improve care and to inform discussions about quality between consumers and clinicians.
