Choosing A Nursing Home for Your Aging Loved Ones – A Brief Guide

Our elderly loved ones have the right to feel safe and well taken care of at nursing homes. Today, with better awareness, you are able to differentiate between a good and a bad nursing home before signing a contract and trusting your aging parents in their care.

Read on to learn more. 

Always Check Ratings

When looking for a nursing home for your elderly loved ones, you shouldn’t make the mistake of settling for the nearest nursing home that you find on Google Maps. Instead, you should make a list so that you know your options before entrusting your parents to their care. 

So, start with making a list of all nursing home facilities that are near your house or the house of a loved one. The reason why you want to select from nearby facilities is that this way you will be able to visit your loved ones more often. 

Once you have the list ready, make sure to check the ratings and based on the ratings, make sure to further narrow down the list. 

When it comes to checking the ratings and quality of care – you can do your research too and find out about the following aspects:

• Staffing
• Safety inspections
• Accidents statistics

As a general rule of thumb, nursing home facilities with a higher and better rating are likely to be safer facilities for your aging loved ones. When narrowing down your list, cross out all nursing homes that don’t have a five-star rating.

Yes – you read this right. When it comes to the golden years of your aging loved ones, you want to ensure they are comfy, safe, and well-taken care of, which is why you should never consider a facility that has a lower rating than five stars. 

Prepare to Visit the Nursing Facilities

Before you make a decision, you should make it a priority to visit the potential nursing facilities in person. Instead of solely relying on the reviews and feedback on the nursing home website, prepare to visit the nursing facilities in person to get a better idea of the nursing homes. 

That said, you should plan multiple visits at different times of the day – in the morning and at night. This way, you will get a clearer picture of how things are at the nursing facilities. While visiting the nursing facilities, pay close attention to the exterior and interior spaces of the nursing homes. 

Take Mental Notes and Look between the Cracks 

Apart from assessing the condition, you should make notes of the dining room, the activities center, recreational activities, and other places, including the bathroom and kitchen, to see how the residents of the nursing homes are living and adjusting to the living arrangements. 

It is important to mention that you should never ignore your gut feelings about each of the nursing homes that you visit. Also, make sure to keep visiting your loved ones after entrusting their care to the nursing home facility.

By visiting your loved ones regularly, you are in the ideal position to monitor the nursing home staff, too.  On that note, you might want to check out important resources for nursing home residents and families so you know how to report abuse and hold the nursing home facility in case you detect abuse. 

Despite the good ratings, you might face the issue of a staffing shortage, which has been exclusively brought to notice after the pandemic. Long-term nursing home facilities have been asking for help since the very start of the Coronavirus – especially regarding staffing.

The nursing staff might be incredibly talented and loyal to their profession while striving to provide the kind of care and love that the aging residents deserve. However, due to issues like short staffing and because some nursing homes don’t want to spend their money – the staff might fall inadequate to treat the residents like family – not because they don’t want to but because they are overworked. 

Know Where Nursing Home Administrators Might Lack

Bedsores are among the most common injuries that senior residents can sustain at nursing homes. Sometimes – the neglect progresses to the point that bed sores turn into ulcers – causing more pain and suffering to the affected residents. 

Some part of the inadequate and inconsistent bedside care is the cause of inadequate training, as bedside care is mostly performed by nurse assistants who are barely making their living wages. Also, in most cases, the administrators of nursing homes fail to focus on accountability and quality. 

Inspection is mostly based on chart documentation which isn’t parallel to how the actual care is given to the residents. For instance, as mentioned before, bedsores are among the top injuries of bed-bound residents, and these are also the most challenging part of nursing home care. 

It takes the following things to prevent bedsores at nursing home facilities:

• Trained staff
• Qualified staff
• Pressure-reducing mattresses
• Repositioning the bed-bound residents every two hours

Stay On Top of Who is Looking After Your Loved Ones 

Now, despite the fact that nursing home administrators know that this type of care is required – they fail to perform the mandatory steps. Resultantly, residents face serious wounds, which can also result in the death of aging patients.

While it is absolutely crucial to monitor the care that your loved one is receiving at the nursing home facility – it is equally important to know who is administering the care and who is responsible for what. Nursing home staff are more likely to take care of your loved one and treat them like family when they see that you are making an effort to visit your loved one as often as possible. 

Support Your Loved Ones with the Right Decisions

It is up to you to decide the importance and extent of care that your aging loved one needs. You must also decide how much money, time, and energy you are willing to invest to look after and support your loved ones and how you and everyone involved can be held accountable. 

Sending your loved ones to a nursing home facility can be a difficult decision to make – however – you shouldn’t rush into making a decision. Rather, you should take your time and read the paperwork – ideally – with the help of an attorney before you sign it. 

Also, keep your aging loved ones in the loop so that they know what is going on. Always ensure that they have a say too regarding where they want to live and how the conditions will be.