Learn About the Issues

This page contains pain management resources.

A nursing home is a place residents call “home.” A place where someone lives, and calls home should nurture the human spirit as well as meet medical needs. Person-centered care focuses on the resident and supports them in making choices and having control of their daily life. Person-centered care is an important component in residents’ right to “care and services to attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being;” as promised in the Federal Nursing Home Regulations. The goal of person-centered care is to deinstitutionalize the facility to create an environment that follows the residents’ routines rather than those imposed by facility staff and provides truly individualized care. It is the role of the Ombudsman program to advocate for residents and their right to make choices to direct their care and life in long-term care facilities. Below are documents and resources that may help Ombudsman programs in their work to achieve person-centered care.