Supervisory, Personal and Directed Care: What Do They Mean?

Supervisory Care. Personal Care. Directed Care. They are not marketing terms. They describe different levels of assistance recognized by Arizona.

Supervisory Care

This is the lightest of the three. Arizona describes supervisory care as general supervision, including awareness of a resident's daily functioning and ongoing needs, the ability to respond during a crisis, and assistance with self-administered medication. A resident receiving supervisory care may still be relatively independent.

Personal Care

Personal care involves help with everyday activities. These are often called activities of daily living, or ADLs. They can include things such as:

• Bathing
• Dressing
• Grooming
• Toileting
• Eating
• Moving safely

Arizona's definition also allows for coordination or provision of certain intermittent nursing services and medication administration.

Directed Care

Directed care is intended for residents whose cognitive or functional condition means they may not be able to reliably:

• Recognize danger
• Summon assistance
• Express what they need
• Make basic care decisions

That distinction matters enormously for families dealing with dementia or other forms of cognitive impairment.

An example

Imagine three residents. Maria lives fairly independently but needs someone keeping an eye on changes in her condition and helping her manage medications — that may resemble supervisory care. Frank needs help bathing, dressing and getting safely to meals — that may resemble personal care. Eleanor has significant dementia and may wander, cannot consistently recognize danger, and may not know how to call for help — her needs may require directed care.

The exact determination belongs to the resident's care team and the facility, but these examples illustrate why the terminology matters.

The question families should ask

Don't simply ask “Do you provide memory care?” Ask “Are you licensed to provide directed care, and what happens if my family member eventually requires it?” That gets much closer to the information you actually need.