Otterbein Sunset House

In addition to being a first rate facility overall, this facility also excelled in the category of nursing, where it received an A+. Few nursing homes performed better in this area. Our nursing score assesses the facility's nurse staffing levels. We consider both the levels of skill of the nurses and the quantity of hours spent with patients. This particular nursing home provided 0.6 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 the country 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 a patient more often.

Adding to its top-shelf accomplishments in other areas, we awarded this nursing home a score of A for its short-term care grade. Short-term care grades are based on the nursing home's quantity of highly-skilled nursing services. This includes a vast scope of services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, not to mention other forms of therapy. Fortunately, it appear that this facility employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the data they provided, it does not look like the facility employs physical therapists. The last measure we looked at in this area is the percentage of patients who ultimately were able to return home from the facility. We found that 5.3 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the nursing home on a permanent basis.

Tallying yet another strong category grade, this nursing home also excelled in the area of inspections, where it earned an A-. Inspection grades take several factors into consideration, including deficiencies, substantiated complaints and federal fines. You can learn more about each of these factors by obtaining copies of nursing homes' inspection reports. This particular nursing home had just a single deficiency on its inspection report and it was not one deemed to pose a threat to patient health or safety. Even some of the best nursing homes receive an occasional ding on their inspection report.

The last category we analyzed is this nursing home's poorest category. However, even in its weakest link we still gave it a decent grade of B- in long-term care. Our long-term care ratings are vital for people seeking personal care. Once we assessed the quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we then looked at the facility's vaccination records. This facility vaccinated 100 percent of its patients for pneumonia, which is higher than the average nursing home. This facility keeps its patients out of the hospital. Indeed, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is an impressively low number.