Orchards Skilled Nursing

In addition to being a first rate facility overall, this facility also excelled in the area of nursing, where it received an A+. Few nursing homes fared better in this area. The nursing grade analyzes several factors, however, the main consideration is the level of nurse hours per patient per week. This nursing home provides 0.6 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality-based metrics 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 place the state in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by having a protocol of turning a resident at least once a day.

This nursing home also received an A+ for its short-term care score. In calculating our short-term care grades, we analyze the facility's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, speech therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. Our objective is to formulate a measure for comparing the rehabilitation services of different nursing homes. Fortunately, it looks like this facility has registered nurses on staff. Not all facilities employs these skilled professionals. On the other hand, based on the data they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 6.4 percent of this nursing home's patients returned home.

In the next category we looked at, this nursing home was given quality marks in the area of long-term care. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with a grade of of A+. Long-term care scores of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. After assessing the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then analyzed the facility's vaccination data. This nursing home vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia. Vaccines are vital to keeping patients out of the hospital. Lastly, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. It had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

In addition, this nursing home also earned a nearly flawless inspection report. As a result, it received one of our highest grades in that category with an A. With this impressive grade, this place is one of the few nursing homes in California to earn straight A's. Inspection grades take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies, substantiated complaints and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these items by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. It does not appear that we have information about this nursing home's deficiencies. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.