Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Health Services › DHS 30-100 - Community Services › Chapter DHS 61 - Community Mental Health And Developmental Disabilities › Subchapter IV - Community Mental Health Programs › Section DHS 61.71 - Inpatient program standards

Current through June 24, 2024
(1) REQUIRED
				  PERSONNEL.
(a)
Psychiatry.
Each mental health inpatient service shall have a psychiatrist who has competed
				  an approved residency training program in psychiatry as its director of mental
				  health services. This director shall be responsible for organization and
				  maintenance of an active mental health treatment program and shall assume
				  responsibility for the admission, treatment, discharge planning, and release of
				  patients from the inpatient service. The director of mental health services and
				  additional psychiatrists, as needed, shall be available for daily inpatient
				  visits, in order to carry out an adequate treatment program. Additional
				  provision shall be made for emergency contact between such visits. Each service
				  shall provide for a minimum of .8 hour a week psychiatric treatment time per
				  patient under care. The psychiatric staff will assume responsibility for
				  patient care, utilizing the services of the medical staff for necessary general
				  medical care.
(b)
Nursing
				  service.
1. Registered nurses and
				  licensed practical nurses. Each service shall employ sufficient registered
				  nurses and licensed practical nurses to provide full-time nursing service for
				  each shift 7 days a week. All registered nurses and licensed practical nurses
				  employed to provide nursing service must have a current Wisconsin certificate
				  to practice as a RN or LPN, and appropriate experience and/or further education
				  for the responsibility of the position. The following schedule of licensed
				  nursing coverage is minimal, with the added provisions that at least one staff
				  member on the day and evening shift be a registered nurse. In computing the
				  number of licensed personnel needed on each shift, the totals should be rounded
				  up if .5 or more, down if less than .5. There must always be at least one
				  licensed person on duty on each shift, even if the number required is less than
				  .5.
Day Shift
Evening Shift
Night Shift
.32 hrs/pat/day
.16
.16
or
2.24 hrs/pat/wk
1.12
1.12
2.
				  Aides and other paraprofessionals. Each service shall employ a sufficient
				  number of aides or other paraprofessionals to provide a ratio of 1.25 hours of
				  such time per patient per day. In computing this ratio, dietary, maintenance
				  and housekeeping staff, volunteers or building security shall not be included
				  as aides. There shall be at least one aide or other treatment staff person on
				  duty in each ward when patients are present to insure adequate patient
				  supervision. In determining adequate care the department has the authority to
				  determine what constitutes units of coverage. Paraprofessionals entitled mental
				  health technicians or mental health workers may be employed. They shall be
				  selected on the basis of their personal qualities and aptitude. They must have
				  a period of orientation and inservice training, and work under the supervision
				  designated treatment staff.
(c)
Activity therapy.
Each
				  service shall employ at least one full-time registered occupational therapist
				  and one certified occupational therapy assistant or a graduate of the division
				  of mental hygiene's Activity Therapy Assistant Course. Where other health care
				  services are located in the same or continuous property, one full-time
				  occupational therapist may serve the other health care service as well as the
				  inpatient mental health services. The mental health inpatient service shall
				  maintain a ratio of 1.6 hours of activity therapy staff time per patient per
				  week. A registered music therapist or art therapist may fill the requirement
				  for activity therapy positions after one registered occupational therapist has
				  been employed. Where work therapy is utilized, each service shall designate the
				  registered occupational therapist, unless the service has employed a vocational
				  rehabilitation counselor. In this circumstance the vocational rehabilitation
				  counselor shall be in charge of industrial therapy.
(d)
Social services.
Each
				  service shall employ one full-time social worker and provide for a minimum of
				  .8 hour a week social work time per patient under care. Social workers must
				  have a master's degree from an accredited school of social work or a bachelor's
				  degree in social work, or social science. The first social worker hired must
				  have a master's degree in social work.
(e)
Psychological services.
Each service shall employ or contract for the services of a clinical
				  psychologist licensed in the state of Wisconsin to provide psychological
				  testing, counseling and other psychological services. A minimum ratio of .8
				  hour per week psychology time per patient under care shall be
				  provided.
(f)
Exceptions.
A special exception to any of the foregoing
				  personnel requirements may be granted in unusual circumstances, if a service
				  develops an alternative proposal, satisfactory to the department, to provide an
				  innovative approach to patient care, which provides levels of services
				  equivalent to those required in these standards. An exception may also be
				  granted to a proposal which substitutes personnel with qualifications equal to
				  those listed above.