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At the Member of the Family website there are ratings, violations information, complaints and a Watch List for 16,000 nursing homes.
The recent list published of the worst nursing homes in America has highlighted the importance of researching nursing homes.
Color codes make it easy for the average person to understand the ratings at Member of the Family. For example, a red bar indicates "actual harm", yellow means "potential for more than minimal harm," and so on.
The states are listed, so to find out about local nursing homes in your area you can just click on your state.
The National Nursing Home Watch List at the site shows homes that have been cited for violations, and "substantiated complaints."
Nursing Home Quality Trends and Staffing is a page at the side with The Quality Indicators, which are color coded, as explained above. This page has the nursing home ratings. It's easy to find the information because, again, you just click on your state to see them.
By becoming knowledgeable of the ratings we can avoid bad nursing homes. Researching them will enable us to avoid letting the bad nursing homes take advantage of our lack of information, or fool us.
Please join in to help get rid of bad nursing homes.
Dear Kristi,
Thanks for alerting readers to Member of the Family. In addition to red, yellow and green flags, it gives consumer advice on how to negotiate with a nursing home if you should have problems.
We frequently mention memberofthefamily and other Web resources to family members searching for a facility. These include nursinghomeinfo , NewLifeStyles, and the government nursing home comparison site.
These helpful Web sites are only a first step. One you have narrowed the search to a few facilities, a good next step is to phone facilities. Ask if they have special units or programs for persons with dementia.
The best way to assess a facility is to visit it in person at different times of the week to observe it in action. Ask about: the programming that is done to keep residents stimulated, dementia care training for the staff, security measures, and staff/resident ratio. Ask selected residents if they enjoy living in the facility (note--some residents with dementia may not be able to effectively answer questions). Are staff members engaged with residents? Trust your senses and trust your instinct. What if it were you moving to this facility?
Another new way to check on the quality of a facility is to see whether it has earned the designation "AFA Excellence in Care Program of Distinction," a new program instituted by the Alzheimer's Foundation of America that evaluates dementia care settings. The program is new so many facilities across the nation are first undergoing the extensive review process now; as sites qualify for the designation, they will be listed on the Excellence in Care Web site.
Thank you for the comment and the great information!
Asking the questions "What is the ratio of aides per resident?" and observing how long it takes a resident who needs assistance to get help are some more important issues. On a Friday or Saturday night, when some of the staff may have called in sick, it's helpful to check to see if enough replacements were found or if the individual aides had to take on an overload of residents.
It can help to watch to see if the staff has to rush through assisting each person in order to hurry as fast as they can on to a series of people waiting for help.