Things to ponder when selecting a nursing home

Editor’s note: In this weekly column addressing medical and health care issues, doctors from Mercer University’s medical school provide useful and timely information on a variety of topics. Readers with questions for the doctors can email them at groover_ce@mercer.edu.

When selecting a nursing home for yourself or a loved one you should begin by asking yourself some key questions. What are you looking for in a nursing home? Do you need long-term or short-term care? Do you need intensive or minimal assistance with the activities of daily living? How will you fund the nursing home stay? Are rehab services needed? Do you have special care or dietary needs? Do you need a hospital-like environment or a home-like environment? Will another type of service meet your needs (adult day care, senior centers, assisted living, etc.)?

Start by comparing the nursing homes in close to you, as this will help facilitate visits and aid the resident in adapting to the new environment. When looking at specific nursing homes, keep in mind the perspective of the nursing home resident as well as the perspective of the family. It may be critically important to the family member that the resident gets out of bed several times a day while the tastiness of the food may be the most critical detail to the resident. Taking a few moments to make a “wish list” of the top three issues for both the resident and the family member will make the decision much easier. A tool to help compare multiple nursing homes can be found on the Medicare website. www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/search.html.

Compare nursing homes based not only on the information found on the Medicare website, but also make a point to visit the various homes at different times of the day. Touring the home in the morning may reveal a different environment than visiting in the evening due to changes in staff as well as changes in the amount of activity in the home. Try to seek answers to your key questions from more than one source by asking questions of administrative staff, housekeeping, dietary staff and even residents (with their permission). It is not uncommon to encounter some different odors due to the normal effects of medications and aging but you should be able to discern the general level of cleanliness. Hygiene accidents happen and a well-run nursing home will stay on top of housekeeping and maintenance. Many elderly patients will moan, cry or yell out, and while this does not indicate abuse you should try to listen to the staff’s responses to these residents. Compassionate and caring staff will take a moment to calmly ensure that there is no immediate issue to be addressed even if this is a repeated behavior.

Visiting at meal times can offer you the chance to assess the quality of the meals that are served. Keep in mind that many residents require a pureed diet which may not look as appealing but should still be warm and tasty. Check to see if assistance is available for eating. However, residents should be encouraged to act as independently as possible. Observe how the residents spend their time. Are activities provided that are appropriate for the ability levels of all residents? You can often review what activities are planned for the month by asking the social services coordinator.

The transition to nursing home care is always difficult and emotional but researching the options and preparing keys questions in advance of visiting the various nursing home facilities can make the process easier and help guarantee a happier transition for both the resident and the family.

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Things to ponder when selecting a nursing home."