Shadowbrook Post Acute

One of the reasons this ended up being a decent facility is it earned a very favorable inspection grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a B+. Our inspection ratings account for a host of factors found on a facility's inspection reports. One key criteria we consider is the number and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher scores in this category generally have very few of these severe deficiencies. Fortunately, although this facility had some minor dings on its report, it had zero severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means the government inspectors did not consider any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A couple minor deficiencies shouldn't lead you to cross a nursing home off your list.

This nursing home also excelled in the category of nursing, where it received an B. Our nursing grade is mostly associated with the nursing home's nurse staffing. This facility provided 0.4 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 nursing home California in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can often be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as having a policy of moving patients more frequently.

This facility also was awarded a positive long-term care score. Indeed, we awarded it a grade of B in this category, which happens to be one of our better. Long-term care grades of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine healthcare services. On top of assessing the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This nursing home gave the vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is more than the majority of nursing homes. Clearly, this nursing home is doing something right in this area as it also excelled at keeping its patients out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 0.03 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

The next area we rated is short-term care, ended up being this nursing home's worst category. We awarded this nursing home a grade of D in this area. In crafting these short-term care grades, we assess the nursing home's skilled nursing services, such as those performed by registered nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other types of therapists. The purpose is to create a barometer for comparing the rehabilitation services of various nursing homes. With a score this poor in this category, we weren't stunned to discover this place was below average in two of the key staffing figures we looked at. The facility supplied substantially fewer registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than most facilities. Finally, we considered the percentage of patients who were able to return to the community from this nursing home. We found that just 4.3 percent of this facility's patients returned home.