Upmc Northwest Transitional Care Unit

To go along with its strong overall score, we awarded this facility an A+ for its short-term care grade. With our short-term care score, we try to create a meaningful gauge for rehabilitation services. In this process, we assess a nursing home's offerings of highly-skilled nursing services, including both registered nurses and physical therapy, as well as occupational therapy. This nursing home employs both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities employ these skilled professionals. The last measure we assessed in this area is the percentage of residents who were able to leave the facility and return home. We found that 8.1 percent of this facility's residents returned home.

Adding to an already impressive profile, this facility also received virtually flawless health inspections in recent years. As a result, we awarded it an A+ inspection grade. Inspection grades weigh a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection reports. One key criteria we weigh heavily is the quantity and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this category tend to have very few severe deficiencies. 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. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

We also wanted to emphasize the fact that this facility received an impressive grade of A in our nursing category. In calculating our nursing ratings, we weigh both staffing levels and the skill levels of the nurses. This particular nursing home provided 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also looked at several nursing quality measures and this nursing home excelled in some of these areas. With less than five percent of its residents sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any facility the nation in this category. This is generally a good indicator of quality nursing care. Pressure ulcers can generally be prevented by offering better nursing care, such as employing a policy of turning residents more frequently.

In our last category, this facility also was awarded an impressive long-term care grade, with an A. This finished off a first-rate profile. Long-term care grades of this caliber generally require both around the clock care from nurses and aids, as well as quality routine medical care. One of the factors we considered on top of nursing hours is vaccines. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this facility provided information about vaccinations. Clearly, this facility is doing something right in this area as it was able to keep its patients out of the hospital. It had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.