Nursing Home

Follow these steps to find the nursing home that is best for you:

Step 1: Find nursing homes in your area.

• Ask people you trust, like your doctor, family, friends, neighbors, or clergy if they have had personal experience with nursing homes. They may be able to recommend a nursing home for you.
• If you are in the hospital, ask the hospital’s discharge planner or social worker for a list of local nursing homes. They should be able to help you find an available bed. Some nursing homes work together with hospitals, and some are independent.
• Visit or call your local social service agency or hospital. Ask to speak to a social worker or case manager who can help you find a nursing home in your area.
• Contact your local Agency on Aging to ask for a list of long-term care choices in your area.

Step 2: Compare the quality of nursing homes you are considering. Look at health inspection and fire safety inspection reports, nursing home staffing rates, quality measures and other important information such as how many stars they received on their quality rating.

Step 3: Visit the nursing homes you are interested in, or have someone visit for you.

Before you visit, consider what is important to you:

Quality of Life

• Will you be treated in a respectful way?
• Can you participate in social, recreational, religious, or cultural activities that are important to you? Can you decide when you want to participate?
• Do you get to choose what time to get up, go to sleep, and bathe?
• Can you get food and drinks that you like at any time? What if you don’t like the food that is served?
• Can you have visitors anytime?
• Is transportation provided to community activities?
• Can you bring your pet?
• Can you decorate your living space any way you want?
• Will you have privacy for visits or personal care?

Quality of Care

• Will you be included in planning your care? Will your interests and preferences be included in the care plan? Will you be able to change the plan if you feel there is a need? Will you be able to choose which of your family member or friends will be involved in the planning process? Will you get a copy of your care plan?
• Are there enough staff so you get the care you need?
• Who are the doctors that will care for you? Can you still see your personal doctors?
• Does the nursing home’s inspection report show quality of care problems (deficiencies)?
• What care improvement goals is the nursing home working on?
• What kind of progress is the nursing home making on those goals?

Location

• Is the nursing home close to your family and friends so they can visit often?

Staffing

• Will you have the same staff people take care of you most of the time or do they change from day-to-day?
• Ask the staff to show you the information they are required to post about the number of licensed and unlicensed nursing staff.
• Do the Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) work with a reasonable number of residents on each shift (day and night) and during meals?
• Is there a doctor available?
• Are therapy staff available?
• Is there a social worker available? Can you meet him or her?

Step 4: Choose the nursing home that meets your needs.

When you have all the information about the nursing homes you are interested in, talk with people who understand your personal and health care needs. This might include your family, friends, doctor, clergy, spiritual advisor, hospital discharge planner, or social worker.

If you find more than one nursing home you like with a bed available, use all the information you get to compare them. Trust your senses. If you didn’t like what you saw on a visit, like if the facility wasn’t clean or if you weren’t comfortable talking to the nursing home staff, you may want to choose another nursing home. If you felt that the residents were treated well, the facility was clean, and the staff was helpful, you might feel better about choosing that nursing home.

If you are helping someone, keep the person you are helping involved in making the decision as much as possible. People who are involved from the beginning are better prepared when they move into a nursing home. If the person you are helping isn’t alert or able to communicate well, keep his or her values and preferences in mind.

Important: If you visit a nursing home that you don’t like, look at other options if available. Quality care is important. If you are in a hospital, talk to the hospital discharge planner or your doctor before you decide not to go to a nursing home that has an available bed. They may be able to help you find a more suitable nursing home, or arrange for other care, like short-term homecare, until a bed is available at another nursing home you choose. However, you may be responsible for paying the bill for any additional days you stay in the hospital.

Moving is difficult. However, an extra move may be better for you than choosing to stay at a facility that isn’t right for you. Be sure to explain to your doctor or discharge planner why you aren’t happy with a facility they may be recommending.

Once in the nursing home, if you find that you don’t like the nursing home you chose, you can move to another facility with an available bed. The nursing home you leave may require that you let them know ahead of time that you are planning to leave. Talk to the nursing home staff about their rules for leaving. If you don’t follow the rules for leaving, you may have to pay extra fees.