Northfield Retirement Community

On top of faring well overall, this nursing home also earned nearly flawless government inspections. As a result, it earned one of our highest scores in that area with an A+. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection scores. One of those factors is deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of the deficiencies is arguably more important than the number of deficiencies, as some can be relatively insignificant. This facility was hit with 4 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors did not consider any of the deficiencies to create an immediate threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to point out the fact that this facility performed remarkably in our long-term care category. We awarded them an exemplary score of A+ in this category. Facilities that receive this type of grade in this category typically provide consistent around the clock care to ensure patients are well cared for. On top of looking at the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility gave the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients healthy. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

This facility also performed well in the category of short-term care, where we awarded it a score of A. Not many nursing homes performed better in this category. In the category of short-term care, we strive to evaluate indicators of a facility's rehabilitation. We analyze a nursing home's skilled nursing services, including the ones performed by registered nurses and physical and occupational therapists. Fortunately, it appear that this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not all nursing homes employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the information they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last datapoint we looked at in this area is the number of residents who were able to leave the nursing home and return home. We found that 0 percent of this facility's patients returned home.

In the final category we scored, this facility was given a very strong grade of A in our nursing category. With this grade, the facility wrapped up a straight A report card. In computing a facility's nursing grade, we assess the number of hours nurses are with patients as well as the level of skill of those nurses. This facility provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at some quality-based measures in this category. This nursing home fared well in some of the quality measures we assessed. For example, in terms of the number of its residents suffering from pressure ulcers, this nursing home performed better than the national average. This is generally an indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided with better nursing care.