Tips to Choose a Nursing Home

No one cherishes the thought of putting their loved one in a nursing home but at times that is the only choice. Once all other alternatives have been tried such as letting her live with the family or having the family take turns allowing them to live with them or having them living on their own, it will be time to find best health care facility for the type of care that your loved one needs. The best facility would be ones that are convenient to as many family members as it can possibly be. You also want to make sure that it will provide the high-quality care that your loved one needs such as a secured environment if they have Dementia, chronic medical condition, or some type of physical or mental disability along with a supportive environment.

In order to find the best nursing homes that meet all these criteria assemble potential nursing homes that are centrally located for all members of the family in a notebook. When looking for one look to see what their ratings are in regards to one to five stars and what others have said about their services, both pros and cons and make notes. When looking at the star ratings you need to see what there are in three critical respects which are:

• The amount and kind of nursing staff available
• The diligence of the facility in meeting state safety and health standards
• The nursing home's performance in key behavioral and medical measures such as whether the residents of the facility get enough help with their daily activities, are they receiving their annual flu shots, etc.

Once you have all of this data it is time to choose several of the best nursing homes so you can visit them. Before you visit the nursing homes you should have a list of questions that you want to ask and make notes of the answers. You also want to observe the staff's attitude toward the residents and how attentive they are to the residents. In addition to observing the staff you also need to look at the cleanliness of the home, if there are any safety hazards, the type of food offered, if the residents are clean, etc. Narrow your choices of best nursing homes down and make trips to them at different days and times so you can see how it operates at other times. If possible take your loved one with you on one of your visits to get their input.

Do not make a rush decision but take your time to make sure that your loved one gets in one of the best nursing homes possible.