Veterans Home of California - Barstow

We also would like to point out that this nursing home excelled in our nursing category. We awarded them an impressive grade of A+ in this category. When determining our nursing scores, we weigh both staffing levels and the skill levels of those nurses. This nursing home averages 0.4 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, we also looked at some nursing quality measures in determining our nursing grades. This facility performed very well in the area of minimizing its residents' major falls and pressure ulcers. We consider these areas to be good indicators of the quality of nursing care.

We also wanted to point out the fact that this facility was given a high-end score of A in our long-term care category. Nursing homes that receive this type of grade in long-term care typically provide consistent around the clock care to make sure patients are kept in good health. In addition to considering the volume of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility administered the vaccine to 99.62687 percent of its patients. Vaccines are critical to keeping residents out of the hospital. Lastly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. In fact, it had less than one hospitalization per 1,000 long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low number.

This nursing home also received a nearly flawless government inspection report. It received one of our highest grades in that category with an A-. Inspection scores account for a host of factors found on a nursing home's inspection report. One of the most important criteria we look at is the number and severity of deficiencies. Places with higher scores in this category usually have very few severe deficiencies. This facility received 6 deficiencies on its inspection report, but fortunately none were considered to be major deficiencies. This tells you that the inspectors didn't consider any of the deficiencies an immediate threat to resident health or safety. Finally, this facility had no substantiated complaints this year from residents, which is an excellent sign.

Switching gears to our last category, this facility was given a very strong short-term care score. In fact, we gave it a grade of A- in that category, giving this facility straight A's. In the category of short-term care, we attempt to qualify indicators of a nursing home's rehabilitation services. We analyze a nursing home's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses and physical and occupational therapists. Fortunately, it looks like this nursing home employs registered nurses. Not every facility employs these types of nurses. On the other hand, according to the information they provided, they do not appear to employ physical therapists. The last statistic we considered in this category is the percentage of residents that returned home from the facility. We found that 0 percent of this nursing home's residents returned home as opposed to remaining at the facility on a permanent basis.