Shattuck Nursing Center

On top of earning a strong overall grade, this facility fared even better in the area of inspections which is associated with the nursing home's recent inspections. In fact, we awarded it an A for that area, which is one of our highest grades. Perhaps the most critical factor we consider in determining our inspection grades is deficiencies. These deficiencies can be found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Places with better grades in this category most likely dodged the more severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. This facility received 2 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This means that the inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies an immediate risk to resident safety or health. A couple relatively minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

This facility was given an impressive long-term care score as well. We awarded it one of our higher scores in that area with a grade of B+. Nursing homes that receive this kind of score in this category tend to provide consistent around the clock care to ensure residents are well cared for. After we finished looking at the amount of care provided by nurses, we then looked at the facility's vaccination records. This nursing home vaccinated 98.52941 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia sadly is often a life or death condition for nursing home patients so we strongly prefer when a nursing home doesn't roll the dice on this issue. Finally, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per one thousand long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.

The next highest grade we gave this nursing home came in the category of nursing, where we gave it a grade of B-. This wasn't quite as good as some of its other scores, but a grade in this range is not the end of the world. Our nursing score assesses the facility's nurse staffing levels. We look at both the levels of skill of the nurses as well as the quantity of hours spent with residents. This facility provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a relatively low total compared to most other facilities. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality-based metrics. Although this facility got docked a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it actually excelled in a few of these quality-based metrics. With less than five percent of its patients sustaining pressure ulcers, it fared remarkably well in this subcategory. This is typically an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be avoided by providing better nursing care, such as by employing a protocol of turning a patient more frequently.

Switching gears to the next category, this nursing home received a grade of B- in short-term care, which is a decent rating. Short-term care scores are meaningful for individuals requiring rehabilitation. Rehabilitation typically utilizes higher levels of highly-skilled nursing services. Skilled nursing means a wide range of nursing services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and occupational therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this facility provided registered nurse or physical therapist staffing data. The last item we looked at in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the nursing home 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.