Elder Care Zone - Caring for the Elderly, Elder Health Care Services, Elder Home Care and More
    (Add to Favorites  |  View All Articles  |  Resource Directory)

Skilled Nursing Homes and other Assisted Living Arrangements compared


Skilled Nursing Homes - What Are They?


A skilled nursing home is a medical facility providing services similar to a hospital. The homes are staffed with licensed nurses, shared rooms, hospital beds, regular scheduled doctor rounds, meals and housekeeping. Skilled nursing homes often provide a more pleasant setting with optimal nurse to patient ratios and relaxed atmospheres.

Skilled nursing homes provide both long-term and short-term care solutions for seniors. Unlike Assisted Living or Board and Care homes, skilled nursing homes provide solutions for patients with complex medical issues that require 24-hour supervision. These issues can include mental issues such as dementia and physical issues such as major infections, wound care, IV therapy, tube feeding and physical/occupational therapy. Skilled nursing facilities are also a common solution for seniors that are unable to care for themselves on daily basis such as those suffering from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

A skilled nursing home typically provides a team approach when providing medical care to patients. A licensed individual, usually called the "administrator", oversees the departments comprising the skilled nursing home. A licensed Director of Nursing ["D.O.N."] is then responsible for the administration of each department providing care to residents. Each D.O.N. is directly involved in the medical care of each patient. Their duties include overseeing nurses, interacting with physicians and resolving any patient-related issues. In essence, the D.O.N. is the person overseeing the day-to-day medical care of the patient.

In addition to the Director of Nursing, a skilled nursing home will customarily have other professionals on staff to assist patients. A med nurse is always assigned for the sole purpose of administering medications prescribed for the patients. Physical and occupational therapists also work within the structure of care, coordinating specifically ordered therapies and reporting progress to doctors. An activities director is in charge of all social interaction and planned activities. Finally, a social worker is typically on staff to assist patients with emotional issues and arrangements for their care after discharge.

Alex Jensen is with http://www.careplacement.com - a free placement service for Southern California. Care Placement's staff can review your care requirements to determine whether skilled nursing care, assisted living facilities or board and care homes are a viable option for seniors.


MORE RESOURCES:

News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News

Caregiving Spouses of Alzheimer's Patients Put Own Health at Risk
Here's a shocking statistic: Elderly caregiving spouses have a 63 percent higher chance of dying than people the same age who aren't caring for a spouse, says the American Medical Association. Why is caregiving such a health risk? And what can a caregiver do to protect herself? Here's what you need to know ... read more

Group opposes funding elderly care - beecareful.info News

Group opposes funding elderly care
beecareful.info News
By Jackson-Taylor-Davids 13 hours 29 minutes ago Providing free personal care for older people through taxation could cost the equivalent of another NHS and ...

and more »

Tony Banks: How we pay for care of the elderly is a time bomb we must defuse
THE funding of long-term care of the elderly is a socio-economic time bomb successive governments at Westminster and Holyrood have failed to defuse.

Family charged in abuse of elderly Mass. woman
An 80-year-old woman lay for a month in a recliner soaked with her waste, her long toenails curling back into her skin and suffering from deep bedsores, authorities said in announcing charges against five family members.

Course Teaches Officers To Spot Elderly Abuse
South Florida police officers are learning how to spot abuse of elderly people and what to do about it.

Woman accused of bilking elderly couple
MEDFORD (AP) -- A Medford woman has been accused of bilking an elderly couple she was caring for out of thousands of dollars.

Elderly care: Who should pay? - One News Page

Elderly care: Who should pay?
One News Page
yourlegalhelp BBC News Elderly care: Who should pay?: Dame Joan Bakewell tackles the dilemma of who should pay for the care of o... http://bit.ly/cNg7xA ...

and more »

home | site map | articles
© 2006