Fallbrook Skilled Nursing

On top of being a great facility overall, it also earned A+ government inspections recently. Its inspections are virtually perfect. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in determining these inspection grades. One critical factor is deficiencies. You should keep in mind that the severity of these deficiencies is usually more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some are relatively minor. 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. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

Another one of this nursing home's above average category scores came in the category of short-term care. We awarded them one of our stronger grades in that area, with a score of B+. In forming our short-term care grades, we analyze the nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The purpose is to formulate a barometer for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the information this nursing home provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The final measure we assessed in this area is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return home. We discovered that 5.3 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.

This facility received a very good nursing grade this year as well. It received one of our better scores in that category with a grade of B. Our nursing rating analyzes the nursing home's level of nurse staffing. We consider both the levels of training of the nurses as well as the quantity of hours spent with patients. This nursing home averages 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality measures 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 California in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can many times be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as employing a policy of turning residents more frequently.

The last area we assessed is long-term care. This facility received an above average long-term care rating in our assessment, with a grade of B. This nursing home really doesn't have any weak grades. Nursing homes that excel in long-term care tend to provide residents with more supervision and stay on top of routine healthcare services. In addition to looking at the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients, which is very impressive. Pneumonia sadly can be a life or death condition for nursing home residents so we like it when a facility does not leave its residents vulnerable. Clearly, this place is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.