Department

GAPNA Section

Changing times: Helping families choose a nursing home

Case study

Mrs. Jones is an 86-year-old widowed female who has been living alone at home for the past 10-years. She fell and broke her hip three days ago. She has undergone a right hip replacement and it is time to plan for her discharge from the hospital. Her daughter lives an hour away, and is at the hospital this morning with her mother as the discharge planning begins. The case worker has given the daughter a list of skilled nursing homes (NH) with an available bed close to the daughter's home and in

Choosing a quality nursing home

Most Americans do not think about long-term care until they need it. Being confronted with the need to make a decision about where to place an older family member may be the first exposure to the current long-term care system, and can be overwhelming. Based on perpetual media reports and stereotypes originating from common nursing home scenarios prior to the 1987 Omnibus Reconciliation Act (OBRA '87), the perception of many Americans is that all nursing homes (NHs) are “bad” – and no one wants