For example, in a long term care unit, a patient has space to display greeting cards, calendars, and other personal items important to his or her orientation and well being. Door locks and other structural restraints used are consistent with the individual patient s needs, program policy, law, and regulation. Emergency access provision is provided to all locked occupied spaces. Based on the patient population served, locking may include an entire patient unit or an individual bedroom or bathroom. The hospital provides adequate storage space for permitting patients to wear their own clothing when appropriate.
Hospitalized patients wear clothing suitable to their clinical condition.
For example, hospital gowns provide easy emergency access to the anatomy of a patient in the ICU, whereas street clothes assist in the rehabilitation process of a patient in a substance abuse program. The hospital provides adequate space for storing and makes available articles for grooming and personal hygiene appropriate to the patient s clinical status, developmental level, and age. Patients feelings about themselves are influenced by how they are groomed. For example, when staff are teaching activities of daily living skills to residents in a long term care unit, articles for grooming are important in redeveloping independent living skills. Access to items that may pose a danger, such as razor blades, may be restricted.