The Gardens on University
414 S University Rd, Spokane WA 99206 · (509) 924-4650 · 79.35% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
The Gardens on University is located in Spokane, Washington, which is one of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the nation. Our rating scheme was not very kind to this nursing home, as we gave it an overall score of F. Based on our assessment, this nursing home is not a good fit for any prospective resident. We would not blame you if you're ready to stop reading and find another nursing home. However, if you want to learn more about this place's category grades, nursing grades are discussed in the next paragraph.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 124 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Nurse Quality
While this facility's overall score was rock bottom, it didn't perform as poorly in nursing. We awarded it a B- for this area. The nursing score weighs a handful of factors, most of which are associated with nursing hours. According to its CMS reports, this facility provided an average of 3.9 hours of nursing care per patient each day, which was above the national average. Finally, our nursing grades also factor in some quality-focused statistics. Specifically, we look at the percent of residents who sustained pressure ulcers and major falls. We view these datapoints as reliable indicators of the quality of nursing care, since better care tends to reduce these problems.
Short-term Care Quality
We were also surprised to learn that this nursing home earned a solid short-term care score in our assessment. We awarded it a B- in that category. Our short-term care grade is typically employed to measure a facility's rehabilitation services. To have highly graded rehabilitation services, facilities generally need to offer higher levels of highly skilled nursing. Skilled nursing includes registered nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists and other types of therapists. One of this nursing home's strength is that it offers more hours of care from registered nurses to its residents. Lastly, we considered the percentage of residents who ultimately were able to return home from this facility. We found that 37.8 percent of this nursing home's residents were able to return home. This figure was actually below the national average.
Facility Inspections
We wanted to note that this nursing home received a lowly F for its inspection score. An F in this area is particularly troublesome because it usually points to red flags on the nursing home's inspections. You should pay close attention to any deficiencies on a nursing home's inspection reports when it receives this bad of an inspection rating. We would pay close attention to the severity of those deficiencies. This nursing home was hit with one category J through K deficiency, which are among the worst deficiencies. This generally means that the government inspectors found a deficiency which places resident health or safety in immediate jeopardy. Another area of concern is that 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.
Long-term Care Quality
The final category we analyzed is long-term care, in which this facility was given a bottom of the barrel grade here as well. It received an abysmal F for this area, which is definitely very concerning. Nursing homes that do not score well in this category often don't provide as much nursing care and also may be struggling in a few of the areas of routine personal care we assessed. This nursing home's vaccination statistics were a bit weaker than a few of the other statistics in this area, such as its number of nursing hours per resident. It gave the pneumonia vaccine to just 88.83248 percent of its patients. We would like to see some improvement in this area next year. Surprisingly, this facility was actually decent at keeping its residents out of the hospital. In fact, it had only 1.53 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days. This was its best feature in this category.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Gardens on University Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This is the percent of residents who have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also called bed sores, are routinely the result of residents staying in one position for too long. Better nursing care minimizes the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain pressure ulcers.
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 resulting in severe injury are often the result of poor nursing care. Better nursing protocols minimizes 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 statistic measures the percent of long-term stay residents who have suffered from a UTI. UTI's could be a sign of poor nursing care. Nevertheless, this statistic can be misleading for certain nursing homes due to inconsistent reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percent of residents who were given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic medications may be vital to many patients, it is important to ensure these medications are being used only where medically required. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may mean a facility is using these drugs to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This measures the percentage of long-term care patients that were given antianxiety drugs. These medications are used to treat patients experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
Measures the percentage of long-term care residents demonstrating symptoms of depression. Many in the industry believe this is a reliable measure of quality of care.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric measures the percent of long-term stay residents who received the pneumonia and flu vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be very dangerous for seniors, making these types of vaccines indispensable.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is the percent of patients that required additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Higher levels of needing for assistance with ADL's may indicate deterioration of a resident's medical condition.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This indicates the percentage of residents that were able to retain mobility over time. Retaining mobility is often a good sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This tells you the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of care.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term resident care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This is the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
Measures the percent of short-term patients who saw functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living. Many in the industry argue this is a reliable measure of rehabilitation performance.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better