Choosing to put a loved one into a nursing home is a heart rending decision for most of us. No one really wants to put mom or dad, grandma or grandpa into a care facility. But when failing health or dementia demand that someone needs to care for them day and night, nursing homes may be your only option.
If you find yourself at that place where you need to put one of your loved ones in a nursing home, you’ll want to make sure that the facility you choose gives them the best of care. Here are some ways to check out the quality of any nursing homes you are considering for your loved ones:
- Visit the Medicare website. Medicare’s website maintains information regarding which nursing homes are approved for Medicare. There is also some basic information about many of the facilities. This is an excellent source of unbiased information.
- Visit the facility. The best time to visit nursing homes is when they aren’t expecting you to come. If you want to see the facility for what it is, and for how it actually operates on a day to day basis, show up without an appointment and ask if you can walk around a bit. If they don’t want you to, the logical next question is “Why not?”
- Ask about staff to resident ratio. Particularly, you need to know how many skilled staff are working with how many residents. Many nursing homes have as few as one nurse working with 30 residents. Obviously, that’s not enough staff to offer quality care. A 1:10 ratio or less is much more reasonable.
- Trust your instincts. If you suspect that the patients at a given facility are not receiving quality care, you’re probably right. In any case, you’re not going to want your loved ones staying there if you’re not comfortable with the level
We understand that making the decision to move your loved one into a nursing home is a difficult one. In most cases, so do the staff at the nursing homes (and if they don’t, you’ll want to find a different nursing home anyway). Your loved ones deserve the very best care they can get. And when you make it a point to check the facilities out before moving your loved one there, and to stay involved after your loved one is in the nursing home, you help ensure that they will receive a high quality of care.
