Mesquite Tree Nursing Center

While this nursing home's overall score was not a highlight, it actually really excelled in the area of inspections. In fact, we awarded it an A- for that area, which is one of our highest scores. Inspection ratings are tied to several datapoints located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Deficiencies are a key thing to look for on these inspections. Most importantly, you should avoid nursing homes that have severe deficiencies associated with endangerment of patients. This nursing home was assessed 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered to be severe deficiencies. This indicates that the inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies an imminent threat to resident health or safety. A few minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

The next highest category we awarded this nursing home in any category came in the category of long-term care, where we awarded it a C. If you are seeking anything other than short-term rehabilitation, you should take a close look at long-term care ratings. Once we looked at the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we then looked at the facility's vaccination records. We were optimistic to find that this facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients against pneumonia. Finally, this place was also able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

We awarded this facility a respectable grade in the area of nursing as well, with a grade of C. In determining a nursing home's nursing rating, we look at the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients as well as the level of skill of the nurses. This facility provided just 0.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Lastly, nursing scores also consider quality-based measures, such as avoiding major falls. Despite not having the highest total nursing hours, this facility performed admirably in the metric of preventing major falls. This is generally an indicator that a facility has sufficient quality controls in place. Some falls could be avoided if a facility provides enough nurses to assist its residents.

The next category we looked at is short-term care, which ended up being a low point for this nursing home. We awarded this facility a grade of just D for the area of short-term care. Our short-term care scores are thought to be more critical for individuals in need of rehabilitation from their nursing home. Rehabilitation generally requires higher levels of skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes not just nursing, but also physical and respiratory therapy, as well as other types of therapy. With its score in this category, we were not surprised to find that this nursing home is well below average in terms of the number of registered nurse and physical therapy hours provided to its patients based on the data we assessed. Finally, we assessed the percentage of residents who who were able to eventually return home from this facility. This facility didn't fare well here either. In fact, we found that just 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home.