Five Risky Ways People Choose Nursing Homes

Myths associated with selecting nursing homes suggest quick and easy ways to identify quality care, but relying on these myths can lead to disastrous results. Here are five worst ways to select a nursing home and one of the best.

(PRWEB) March 30, 2004--Myths associated with selecting nursing homes suggest quick and easy ways to identify quality care, but relying on these myths can lead to disastrous results. Here are five of the worst ways to select a nursing home.

1. The Personal Recommendation:

Last weekend Jim, a friend who had put his mother in a nursing home recommended by a friend, called me in a panic. Although his mother was recuperating from a stroke, no nurse or aide checked on her the night before. Jim discovered her in the morning with many cuts and bruises, her sheets soaked in blood.

I cant believe anyone would recommend that nursing home," he complained. My friend said her grandmother was in this particular nursing home, so, I thought it would be good care."

"How often does your friend visit her grandmother?" I asked him.

"I didn't think to ask."

"And did you check the latest state survey for that nursing home?"

"No," he answered. "I thought a personal recommendation was all I needed."

Jim's mother is now back in an area hospital. No one knows if shell recover.

Use personal recommendations only as an addition to your own investigation. Never decide on a nursing home based on a recommendation alone.

2. The Smell Test:

You've heard it repeatedly: "The best way to find out about the quality of a nursing home is to notice how it smells."

It seldom, if ever, works.

Why? Nursing homes have heard the same adage. They are keenly aware of unpleasant odors in areas that might receive visitors. Almost all do their best to remove offensive odors as quickly as possible, even if it means avoiding their primary responsibility to their residents.

3. You Get What You Pay For:

Nowhere is this statement less applicable than in nursing home care. Replace it with another adage -- "Buyer Beware."

Research from The Best Is Yet.Net, covering more than 6000 nursing homes and more than 100 assisted living facilities, shows no link between cost and quality of care. You may find quality care in an expensive facility, or you may not. Similarly, you may find quality care in an inexpensive facility, or you may not. Relying on price as the sole indicator of quality care can result in disaster.

4. Enough Staffing Equals Quality Care:

A recent report from the Senate's Special Committee on Aging showed that satisfactory care for a single nursing home resident requires more than three hours every day of nursing and nursing aide time. However, statistical analysis of the latest federal database on nursing home deficiencies showed no link between deficiencies and staffing levels, a finding consistent with several university studies.

What should you look for in nursing home staffing levels?

Severely understaffed homes cannot provide quality care. Do not consider any home providing fewer than two hours of care daily for each resident.

In homes with enough staffing, focus on staff attitudes. Staff motivated to care for the elderly will do so. Staff motivated only by a paycheck will provide shoddy care regardless of their numbers.

5. A Well-Known Chain Will Provide the Best Care:

Choosing care based on the name of the company can lead to tragedy. Some well-known companies do provide quality care. Others, however, boast long records of legal troubles stemming from accusations of neglect and abuse. Several states' attorneys general have simultaneously sued one such company.

How can you know which is which? The company is not likely to tell you, so research the companys history.

There you have it -- five risky myths exploded!

What does work? Your own investigation. With a little research and several personal visits to nursing homes before you sign anything, you can avoid many of the problems experienced by people who relied on such myths.

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Read more. "101 Ways to Spot a Bad Nursing Home" is included at no cost in our special bonus package, given to buyers of How to Find Great Senior Housing (2nd edition). Learn more at our website: http://www.thebestisyet.net

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