Nursing Homes
Nursing home, inhabitants have 24/7 connection to professional personnel, so they can be regularly be monitored for medical needs and can get support with the activities of daily living. Your loved one may need long-term residential care in a nursing home or short-term care in a skilled nursing facility following surgery, hospitalization, or an illness. Some nursing homes can appear like a hospital. The staff provides medical care that can be physical or speech and occupational therapy. Some nursing homes might have nurses ‘station each floor while others look more like home in order to have a neighborhood feel. Often, they don’t have a fixed schedule, and kitchens might be open to residents. Staff members are encouraged to develop relationships with residents.
There are nursing homes that are specialized and they provide special care units for people suffering from memory problems such as Alzheimer’s disease. There is an option for couples too. Nursing homes are not only for the elderly but for anyone who needs 24-hour care. Up until recently, nursing homes were rigid and institutionalized. There were rules and a schedule for everything (waking, sleeping, eating, bathing, etc.). Now the culture is changing to one of resident-centered care. They want their residents to feel like they’re at home. Many nursing homes are households - small groups of residents living under the same roof with the same staff sharing meals and activities. Some homes are on campuses with multiple households. Resident dogs and cats can often be found in the homes. And some homes let residents bring in their own pets.
When should you choose a nursing home? Problems such as frequent incontinence, dangerous wandering, inability to sleep at night, or agitation that is harmful can be very difficult to manage at home and it may be time to consider placing in a nursing home that provides care for your loved one.
There are two levels of nursing home care. In a skilled nursing facility (SNF), residents are under the 24-hour care of licensed or registered nursing staff, while in an intermediate care facility residents are cared for by certified nursing assistants.
Note: If your loved one doesn't need full-time medical supervision and is able to live more independently, search for an assisted living instead.
There are currently more than 1.5 million Americans that reside in over 17,000 nursing homes in the US. Residents in the understaffed nursing homes were more likely to suffer from bedsores, malnutrition, weight loss, dehydration, pneumonia and serious blood-borne infections that those nursing homes that are well staffed. That is the reason why you should be very careful when choosing the right place for you or your loved one. It is important to know that the normal nursing home resident requires an average of 4.1 hours of care each day according to a study. There are thousands of nursing homes and long-term care facilities to choose from. The vast majority of these facilities is well-maintained, well-staffed and offers a high level of care for the resident. In order to find the best nursing home you may visit it personally and see what the living conditions are at any given time; talk with the staff members and observe how these staff members treat all the residents; obtain the two or three most recent state inspection reports that were conducted for the facility; be sure to observe the facility operations during all shifts for odors, cleanliness, quality of food and the condition of all of the residents; take note of the staffing ratios of nurse’s aides and nurses to the number of residents during all shifts. By conducting your own personal observations as outlined above, you will have a better understanding of the type of care your loved one will receive at that nursing home.
Facilities
Nursing homes are residential care facilities that provide a range of services. Both federal and state regulations require that a doctor or his or her designee will routinely visit an individual living in a nursing home, assess the resident’s health status, and monitor the plan of care. Licensed nursing staffs are in the facility 24 hours a day. Some nursing homes provide secure units specifically for persons with dementia. There are several types of nursing home care that you might want to consider, depending on the person's needs. Assisted living facilities are residential facilities that provide individual rooms, two to three daily meals, and activities for senior citizens who can no longer live alone but do not require 24-hour nursing supervision. These facilities are sometimes referred to as congregate care or congregate living facilities and have grown in number recently. Assisted living facilities provide 24-hour on-site support and assistance including help with medicines and personal hygiene. Many assisted living facilities offers a secured Alzheimer's unit. These facilities are prohibited from providing skilled nursing services and are regulated under a different set of state regulations than those governing a nursing home. If skilled nursing services are required, these services can be provided by a separate home health agency as directed by a doctor or his or her designee. There is no doctor involvement in the plan of care for an individual residing in an assisted living facility nor are doctors required to visit, either by state or federal law. An older adult still should receive primary care from their community physician or from a physician who may have an office practice on site at an AL facility.
