Pinewood Nursing Center

Although we did not rate this facility favorably overall, we want to point out its nearly flawless health inspections in recent years. We awarded them an A- in this category. Inspection scores weigh several factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. You should avoid places with a bunch of severe deficiencies flagged. This facility was assessed 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be major deficiencies. This means that the inspectors didn't consider any of these deficiencies to be an immediate risk to patient health or safety. A few minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

This facility's short-term care score turns out to be one of its better features. The nursing home received a C in this category. Short-term care grades are critical for people in need of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation generally requires more highly-skilled nursing. This includes a wide range of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. In this facility's case, we were surprised to learn that it actually provides less physical therapist and registered nurse hours per resident than the typical facility. The final metric we considered in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. We discovered that just 0 percent of this facility's patients were able to return home, which is below average.

We gave this facility a grade of just D for our nursing rating. When computing a facility's nursing score, we assess the number of hours nurses are with residents and the skill levels of the nurses. This facility averaged just 0.2 hours of nursing care per patient per day. This number is significantly below average. Lastly, we also assessed some nursing quality-based metrics in determining our nursing ratings. This facility performed well in terms of avoiding major falls and pressure ulcers. We consider these datapoints to be reliable indicators of the quality of nursing care.

Switching gears to the final area, this nursing home really didn't fare very well in this area either. With an abysmal grade of F in long-term care, this is about as bad as it gets. In a long-term care setting, the primary objective is to keep patients healthy and safe. This is different than skilled nursing or short-term care where the goal is to rehabilitate residents. One of the statistics we considered on top of nurse's aid hours is vaccinations. Fortunately, this nursing home administered the pneumonia vaccination to 99.53271 percent of its patients. To our surprise, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 0.01 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility had fewer hospitalizations than the majority of nursing homes. Unfortunately, a few of its other scores in the category were not as favorable as these.