Sherwood Oaks Health Center

Although we gave this facility a poor overall score, we actually gave it a fairly respectable grade in the area of nursing, where it received a B-. This was at least better than its other category grades. Our nursing score focuses on the facility's level of nurse staffing. We look at both the levels of skill of those nurses and the amount of time spent with patients. This place provided just 0.4 hours of nursing care per patient each day. This is a relatively low total compared with most facilities. Finally, we also assessed several nursing quality-based metrics. While this place got dinged a bit for its nursing hours per resident, it excelled in a few of these quality metrics. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it did remarkably well in this area. This is generally an indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can frequently be prevented by providing better nursing care, such as by having a policy of moving a resident even once per day.

One of this nursing home's more respectable category scores came in the area of short-term care. This proved to be its second most respectable category. In that category, we awarded this facility a B-. In determining our short-term care grades, we assess the facility's levels of highly skilled nursing, which includes registered nurses, physical therapists speech therapists and other licensed professionals. This grade is often a reliable assessment of a nursing home's rehabilitation. In this facility's case, we were surprised to learn that it actually provides less registered nurse and physical therapist hours per resident than the typical facility. The hope is always that this does not adversely affect the quality of care. Lastly, we assessed the percentage of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 0 percent of this facility's patients returned home. At most facilities, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this figure is below average.

This nursing home earned slightly below average government inspections in recent years. We gave them a C in this category. Inspection scores weigh several factors, including deficiencies and substantiated complaints. You can learn more about each of these issues by reviewing copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This nursing home was assessed 3 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to find that none were category G through L deficiencies. This tells you that it dodged the more significant categories of deficiencies. Finally, CMS flagged this nursing home for possible abuse or neglect. This is not what you want to see. We advise you to direct your search elsewhere.

The last category we looked at was long-term care, where this nursing home received a very poor grade in this category also. We gave it a lowly F in this category, which is definitely a major concern. In a long-term care setting, the facility's primary goal is to maintain residents' quality of life and keep them safe. On top of considering the volume of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home gave the vaccine to 97.637794 percent of its patients, which is better than most nursing homes. To our surprise, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 0.01 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this nursing home had fewer hospitalizations than the majority of nursing homes. Unfortunately, some of its other scores in this category were not as favorable as these.