Northridge Village
3300 George Washington Carver Avenue, Ames IA 50010 · (515) 232-1000 · 95.26% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
Northridge Village is located in Ames, Iowa, a city with a total of 62,905 people. This facility is among the highest-graded facilities we found. In fact, it received our absolute highest grade. In fact, we were so impressed with this facility that we rated it as the best facility in Ames. Headlining this nursing home's exemplary profile is its long-term care rating, which is addressed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 38 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Partnership
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
In addition to receiving a great overall grade, this nursing home received an A+ in the area of long-term care. Nursing homes that receive this type of grade in this category tend to provide consistent 24/7 care to make sure patients are kept in good health. In addition to looking at the well above average level of care provided by nurses and other staff at this nursing home, we also were pleased by the facility's record for vaccinations. For example, this facility gave the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its patients, which is an impressive figure. This combination proved to be effective as this nursing home also excelled at keeping its residents out of the hospital. It had only 1.36 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days.
Facility Inspections
This facility also earned an A+ inspection score, making it one of the few nursing homes to receive multiple A+'s in our category grades. This score is based on the nursing home's inspections. Perhaps the most important factor we look at in computing our inspection grades is deficiencies. These deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Nursing homes with better scores in this category most likely avoided the most severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. While this facility had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you the government inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Nurse Quality
Adding to its impressive resume, this nursing home also excelled in our nursing category. In fact, we awarded it a grade of A for that category. We scrutinized the levels of nurses at the nursing home, in addition to the number of hours the nurses spent with residents, in computing our grade in this category. This nursing home provided 4.1 hours of nursing care per resident daily. This was one of the better totals we found. Furthermore, a significant percentage of this care was provided by registered nurses, which are highly skilled nurses. These are both really impressive figures. On top of offering impressive levels of care, this facility also excelled in several of the quality measures we looked at. With under 5 percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any nursing home the country in this category. This is often a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Many pressure ulcers could be prevented by providing better nursing care and a policy of turning residents more often.
Short-term Care Quality
In our last area, we awarded this facility an A+ for our short-term care grade. This completed a very impressive profile. In the area of short-term care, we attempt to evaluate measures of a nursing home's rehabilitation. We analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses and various therapists. This nursing home elevated its score in this area by offering more care from registered nurses to its residents than the typical facility. Finally, we assessed the number of patients who were able to return home from this facility. It outperformed most facilities in the nation with 51.2 percent of its residents returning home. This is a higher rate than most facilities.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Northridge Village Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, are routinely caused by patients staying in one position for too long. Better nursing protocols limits the number of pressure ulcers sustained by residents in a nursing home.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term stay patients which have had a fall resulting in severe injury. Falls can arise for a variety of reasons, but excessive numbers of falls may be a sign of poor nursing care.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This tells you the percentage of patients that suffered from a urinary tract infection. These infections are sometimes associated with insufficient hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This tells you the percentage of residents who were prescribed antipsychotic drugs. Antipsychotic medications are given to residents for many conditions, including cognitive disorders. Tragically, in limited situations, excessive reliance on these medications may mean that a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is an indication of the percentage of long-term residents taking antianxiety medications.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric measures the percent of long-term stay residents who are exhibiting depressive symptoms. Some experts argue that this is a measure of quality of life.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
Measures the percentage of long-term patients that were administered the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be deadly for nursing home patients, making these vaccines vital to patient safety.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of residents that needed more assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of dependence on staff for assistance with activities of daily living could be a sign of the erosion of a resident's well-being.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percent of patients who were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is usually a good sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint measures the number of times residents are rehospitalized per thousand days of short-term care. Avoiding the hospital during rehabilitation is key to restoring the health of patients.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This indicates the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This tells you the percent of short-term care residents that saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. High levels of autonomy with ADL's usually correlates with higher quality rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better