Wedgewood Healthcare Center

Wedgewood Healthcare Center is an average-sized facility in Lakeland, Florida. This facility a decent overall grade of B-, which made it among the five highest graded nursing homes in the city. Based on our assessment, this place ought to meet the needs of many people. One of the better aspects of this nursing home's profile is its strong inspection reports, which you can find in the next paragraph.

The primary reason this ended up being a decent nursing home is that it received an elite inspection score. In fact, its inspection score was far better than its overall grade. In the inspections category, we gave it an A-. Our inspection grades 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 quantity and severity of deficiencies. Nursing homes with higher grades in this area usually have few of these severe deficiencies. While this facility had some minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are labeled as categories G through L. This tells you the inspectors did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient health or safety. A couple relatively minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.

We also gave this facility an impressive score in short-term care. This nursing home earned a grade of B+ in this area, which happens to be one of our higher scores. In the category of short-term care, we endeavor to assess indicators of a facility's rehabilitation services. We look at the facility's skilled nursing services, such as the ones performed by registered nurses and physical, occupational and other therapists. Fortunately, this nursing home offers both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities offer both. This nursing home performed much better in the final datapoint we assessed in this category, which was the number of patients who were able to leave the facility and return to the community. This place fared as well as just about any nursing home in Florida in this area with 56.5 percent of its residents returning home. For most nursing homes, fewer than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.

The third category we graded is long-term care. In that category, we awarded this facility a grade of B-. In the area of long-term care, we focus more on the amount of services offered by a nursing home, rather than more healthcare-oriented services. On top of looking at the favorable quantity of care provided by nurses aids and other staff at this nursing home, we also were happy with the facility's record for vaccinations. For example, this nursing home gave the pneumonia vaccine to 100 percent of its residents, which is above average. Finally, we looked at its number of hospitalizations. With 1.93 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, this place was not too far off the national average.

The final area we looked at was nursing. We gave this nursing home a C in that area. When determining a nursing home's nursing rating, we weigh the amount of time nurses are with residents as well as the skill levels of those nurses. This facility provides 3.9 hours of nursing care per resident on a daily basis. This is better than average. In calculating our ratings, we apply additional weight to hours performed by more highly skilled nurses such as registered or licensed nurses. Finally, our nursing ratings also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This nursing home performed above average in this area. This is often a good measure of how carefully a nursing home's nursing staff is tending to its patients. Major falls can generally be prevented if more nurses and better safety protocols are used.