Tidwell Living Center

One of the many reasons this turned out to be a quality nursing home is that it received an A+ inspection grade. This is simply as good as it gets in this critical category. Perhaps the most critical factor we consider in calculating our inspection grades is deficiencies. These deficiencies are found on a facility's inspection reports. Nursing homes with higher scores in this area typically dodged the more severe deficiencies involving patient abuse or death. While this facility had some minor dings on its inspection report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are those found in categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This tells you that the inspectors didn't deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Another reason we graded this facility so favorably is that it received an A+ long-term care score. This is simply as good as it gets in this category. Facilities that excel in long-term care tend to provide patients with better supervision and stay on top of routine medical care. On top of assessing the amount of care provided by nurses and other staff, we looked at the percentage of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 100 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping patients out of the hospital. Finally, this facility was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.37 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this facility has fewer hospitalizations than many nursing homes.

This facility is also strong in the area of short-term care, where it was awarded a score of B. It outpaced most nursing homes in this category. Our short-term care scores are crucial for patients needing rehabilitation. Rehabilitation usually utilizes more skilled nursing. This means a vast spectrum of services, ranging from registered nurses to physical and respiratory therapists, as well as other forms of therapy. This nursing home employs both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities employ these skilled professionals. The last item we assessed in this category is the percentage of patients who were able to leave the facility and return home. We found that it performed as well as just about any nursing home in Oklahoma with 64.1 percent of its patients returning home. For most nursing homes, less than half of their short-stay residents are able to return home.

The next category we graded was nursing. This facility was awarded a better than average nursing score this year, with a B-. While this was not quite as elite as many of its other grades, this remains a respectable rating in this category. Our nursing grade assesses the nursing home's nurse staffing levels. We factor in both the levels of licensure of the nurses as well as the quantity of hours spent with residents. This nursing home provides 3.3 hours of nursing care per resident per day. This is a much lower figure than we are used to seeing. Finally, while this nursing home got dinged a bit for its nursing hours, it actually excelled in some of our quality measures. With less than five percent of its patients suffering from pressure ulcers, it did well in this statistic.