Southwood at Norwell Nursing Center
501 Cordwainer Drive, Norwell MA 02061 · (781) 982-7450 · 84.29% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Located in Norwell, Massachusetts, Southwood at Norwell Nursing Center is one of only two available nursing homes in the area. With an B+ overall grade, we ranked this facility in the top third of all nursing homes in the nation. Based on our ratings, this nursing home has quite a bit going for it. This nursing home's impressive profile was highlighted by its long-term care grade, which is addressed in the next section.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 142 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Partnership
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Long-term Care Quality
One of the reasons this turned out to be a strong nursing home is that it earned a very impressive long-term care grade. In fact, long-term care is its best category. In that area, we gave this nursing home an impressive grade of A. For prospective residents seeking a permanent residence rather than skilled nursing, long-term care grades are very important. On top of considering the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we also looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This nursing home administered the vaccine to 90.329666 percent of its residents. This is slightly below what we expected but still a respectable percentage. Although its vaccination rate was a bit lower than we like to see, we were pleased to find place was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.11 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility has fewer hospitalizations than many nursing homes.
Nurse Quality
This facility really excelled in the area of nursing, where it received a grade of A-. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. The nursing grade weighs a host of factors. The most heavily weighted one is the quantity of hours nurses spend with patients. This nursing home provides 3.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also looked at certain nursing quality measures in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these datapoints as reliable measures of the quality of nursing care provided, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Short-term Care Quality
The third category we analyzed is short-term care. We gave them one of our strongest grades in that category, with a A-. In computing these short-term care grades, we look at the nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists and other types of skilled professionals. The objective is to create a barometer for sizing up the rehabilitation services of different facilities. One of this nursing home's strength is that it offers more hours of care from registered nurses to its residents. The last measure we looked at in this area is the number of residents that ultimately returned home from the nursing home. It fared as well as just about any facility in Massachusetts with 57.8 percent of its patients returning home.
Facility Inspections
In the final area we looked at, we found that this nursing home earned a solid government inspection report this year as well. It earned a decent grade in our inspection category with a B-. Our inspection scores weigh a host of factors found on a facility's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we rely on is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. This particular nursing home received 5 deficiencies on its inspection report. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Southwood at Norwell Nursing Center Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This datapoint measures the percent of long-term stay patients that have pressure ulcers or bed sores. We factor in this statistic in computing our nursing grades.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This indicates the percentage of residents who have had a major fall. Falls leading to severe injuries are often linked to lower quality nursing care. Better nursing protocols can limit the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain major falls.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This figure is an indication of the percent of long-term residents that suffered from UTI's. UTI's could be an indication of a nursing home with worse hygiene protocols. Nevertheless, this metric may be misleading for certain nursing homes due to different reporting standards for infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This datapoint indicates the percentage of long-term care residents who were prescribed antipsychotic drugs. High levels of antipsychotic drug use may indicate a facility is using these drugs to subdue residents in situations where such drugs are not medically required. However, some facilities may need to rely more on these medications due to an increased number of residents with cognitive disorders.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term care patients that are administered antianxiety medication. These drugs are given to patients suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This tells you the percentage of patients who are demonstrating depressive symptoms. Higher levels of depression could be a sign a less hospitable environment.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
Measures the percentage of long-term care residents who were administered the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for nursing home residents, making these vaccines critical to patient health.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
Measures the percent of long-term stay patients that needed increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. ADL's include activities such as taking medications and taking a bath.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This is the percentage of residents who retained mobility levels over time. Optimizing mobility is often a great sign for residents' well-being.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of times residents are hospitalized per thousand days of patient care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This tells you the number of rehospitalizations per thousand days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric tracks the number of emergency room visits per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. Avoiding medical emergencies is one way to assess short-term care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This is a measure of the percent of short-term stay residents who experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Some would argue that this is a measure of rehabilitation services.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better