Abernethy Laurels

On top of receiving a strong overall grade, this nursing home also received an A+ inspection rating. This is based on its recent government inspections. An A+ in this area is one of the highest complements we can pay to a facility. Inspection ratings account for several factors included in a nursing home's inspection report. One key criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with better scores in this category tend to have few of these severe deficiencies. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to note the fact that this facility was awarded a strong grade of A- in our long-term care category. Nursing homes that receive this kind of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to ensure patients are kept in good health. After considering the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination record. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents against pneumonia. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Contributing to its high-end assessment, this facility also was given an excellent short-term care score, with a grade of A-. Our short-term care scores are arguably more critical for those requiring rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually requires higher levels of skilled nursing services. This includes not merely nursing services, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, based on the information they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last statistic we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return home. We discovered that 5.4 percent of this facility's residents were able to return home.

In the last category we assessed, this facility received a very favorable grade of A- in our nursing category. With this score, the nursing home topped off a straight A report card. Our nursing grade weighs several factors. The most important one is the amount of time nurses spent with patients. This nursing home averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics and this place excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as having a system of turning residents at least once a day.