Bethesda Home

One of the many reasons this turned out to be a quality nursing home is that it received an A+ inspection grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. Inspection grades weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with better grades in this area tend to have few 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.

This nursing home also was given a first-rate short-term care score. This actually ended up being this facility's second most impressive category score. In that category, we gave this facility a score of A-. With our short-term care rating, we endeavor to forge a sound measure for rehabilitation. In this process, we analyze a nursing home's levels of skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as respiratory therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. However, according to the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final metric we considered in this category is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home.

The next category we looked at was long-term care. This facility was given an above average long-term care grade, with a B+ in this area. When facilities receive this kind of score in long-term care it is a good sign for patient care and suggests that the place is well-staffed with nurses and aids. Once we concluded our assessment of the amount of care provided by nurses, we then analyzed the nursing home's vaccination record. This facility vaccinated 97.64706 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia is too frequently a dangerous condition for nursing home residents so we like it when a nursing home does not leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

Turning to the fourth category, this nursing home received a high-end nursing rating. In fact, we gave it a grade of B+ in that area, finishing off one of our finer report cards. The nursing grade assesses quite a few factors, however, the main consideration is the quantity of nurse hours per patient per week. This particular nursing home provided 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures and this facility excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place South Dakota in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be avoided by offering better nursing care, such as having a protocol of turning patients even once per day.