Carlsbad by the Sea

On top of performing well in its overall grade, this facility received high marks in our short-term care category as well. As a result, it received our highest grade in that category with a score of A+. Our short-term care grades are considered to be more important for people requiring rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation usually mandates higher levels of skilled nursing services. This includes not only nursing, but also physical and speech therapy, as well as other types of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not every nursing home employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final measure we assessed in this category is the number of patients that ultimately returned home from the nursing home. We found that 6.2 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.

Adding to an already impressive profile, this facility also received virtually flawless health inspections in recent years. As a result, we awarded it an A+ inspection grade. Perhaps the most critical factor we consider in calculating our inspection scores is deficiencies. These deficiencies can be found on a facility's recent inspection reports. Facilities with better grades in this area most likely avoided the most severe deficiencies involving health risks or even death. Unfortunately, we weren't able to locate deficiency counts for this nursing home. We wish we had more data for this nursing home. Without having all of the information regarding deficiencies, it ended up being challenging to evaluate it in terms of this category.

In addition, this facility received high marks in the area of nursing. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a score of A+. Our nursing score assesses the nursing home's nurse staffing levels. We weigh both the levels of training of the nurses as well as the number of hours spent with residents. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing grades. This place performed very well in terms of minimizing its residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

The last category we rated proved to be this nursing home's weakest area. Nevertheless, even its lowest point would likely be a strength for many nursing homes. We gave it a favorable grade of B for our long-term care category. When nursing homes receive a score in this range in this category it generally means it's well-staffed and is an overall good place to reside on a permanent basis. After looking at the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we then looked at the nursing home's vaccination records. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia, which is significantly higher than the majority of nursing homes. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.