Selecting a Nursing Home

Choosing a nursing home is one of the most difficult decisions to make. There are alternatives to nursing homes that should be considered. Many of those options are adult foster homes, residential care facilities, assisted living, and memory care facilities. It is most important to consider the needs of the resident. Some people need a little assistance with their activities of daily living. They may be appropriate for assisted living or residential care. Some with memory deficits could benefit from memory care facilities. Nursing homes are for those that need frequent redirection or high levels of medical care.

To make those difficult choices you should have a physician evaluation and obtain a preadmission screening (PAS) to determine the appropriate care for your loved one. A PAS can be obtained by contacting the Department of Senior and People with Disabilities. Public information is a good place to start when selecting a nursing home. Every nursing facility has an annual survey. These surveys are conducted by competent professionals. All concerns are presented to the facility after the survey. The facility then needs to submit a plan of correction. The important part of the survey is the severity, not the number of deficiencies. Written copies of the survey are available for public viewing at the nursing home, and at local office of Seniors and People with Disabilities, the Client Care Unit and medicare.gov. At medicare.gov, click on nursing home compare. This is a report on how the nursing home is doing with their state survey and Centers for Medicare Services (CMS) 5 star rating system and staffing reported at the time of survey. You can also compare other nursing homes in the region that you are looking. Some of the data may reflect the skills of a particular facility however have a low rating. This may mean one of two things, they specialize in these kinds of cases and do it well or there could be an underlying problem at the facility. That is where spending some time investigating when you visit for your initial tour. Survey citations and substantiated complaints are also listed and are reported in scope and severity and should be compared to other facilities in the community.

The facility environment should by neat, Clean, and odor free and in good repair. There are times however when a floor may need mopping, or there is a transient odor, or a sticky surface. These should be resolved in a few minutes. Visit at a different time ore come back to the location of concern to see if the issue is resolved. Oregon has established minimum staffing requirements for a nursing facility. Those staffing ratios are posted daily for your inspection and reported to the state quarterly.

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