The patient's bill of rights mandates that this be permitted in Medicaid and Medicare institutions. However, the continued social and psychological support of family and friends is essential to the patient's well-being. Many families visit daily. Most nursing homes have liberal visiting hours and are willing to extend those hours in special circumstances. Nursing home staff members are encouraged to make visitors feel welcome and, ideally, relationships between residents and their family and friends continue as they were before the nursing home placement.
Good food is a matter of individual preference.
Everyone has certain customary dishes and styles of preparation that no one else can duplicate. In the nursing home some residents are on restricted or special diets as ordered by their physicians and thus have limited food choices. Furthermore, eating similar menus in the same surroundings day after day becomes monotonous. After a while nothing seems appetizing. However, nursing homes employ dieticians to plan menus that are palatable, attractive, and meet the nutritional needs of the individual.