How to Choose a Skilled Nursing Facility

Choosing a skilled nursing facility for yourself or your loved one is a scary prospect. How do you know which facility will best suit your needs?

Start with asking family and friends who have dealt with this. You can also get recommendations from the hospital or senior care organizations in your area. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of facilities, you may want to visit and speak with the admissions team, the staff, and residents.

At Park Crescent Healthcare and Rehabilitation, we welcome your discovery visit and look forward to showing you around.

Here’s a checklist of questions you can use to evaluate whether or not a facility is right for you:

Facility

• How close is the facility to family and friends who want to visit regularly?
• Does the facility smell nice, or are there strong, unpleasant odors in the public areas?
• How noisy is the facility?
• Is there sufficient lighting in the rooms and shared spaces?
• Does each resident have personal storage space in their room?
• Does each room have a window?
• Is the facility clean, pretty, and up to date?
• Are there any private or semi-private areas to for families to meet?
• What policies and procedures are in place to protect residents’ privacy?
• Are all exits clearly marked?
• Does the facility have smoke detectors and sprinklers?
• Do the bathrooms and hallways have grab rails?
• How wheelchair-accessible are the rooms, hallway, and common areas?
• Is the facility certified by Medicare and/or Medicaid?

Care and Nursing Staff

• How many nurses and aides are on staff each shift?
• Is the same aide assigned to the same patient every day, in order to build relationships?
• How do the nurses and aides communicate with each other between shifts?
• What is the facility’s policy about sending patients to the hospital?
• How frequently are patients sent to the hospital?
• Does the facility offer the specialized service my loved one needs?
• Do the staff members wear name tags?
• How friendly do the staff and residents seem to be toward each other?
• Are the residents well-groomed and dressed properly?
• Who is the attending physician? How often does he or she visit?
• May the residents see their personal physicians?

To schedule a visit at Park Crescent, click here to contact us.