Whispering Pines Community Care Center

In addition to performing well overall, this facility also earned nearly flawless government inspections. Therefore, it received one of our highest grades in that area with a grade of A+. We weigh several aspects of a nursing home's inspection report in computing our inspection ratings. One of those factors is health deficiencies. It should be noted that the severity of these deficiencies is arguably more meaningful than the number of deficiencies, as some deficiencies are relatively minor. This nursing home was assessed 2 deficiencies on its inspection report, but none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe deficiencies. This means that the government inspectors did not consider any of these 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.

We also gave this facility a grade of A+ for its long-term care grade. When nursing homes receive this kind of grade in long-term care it is usually a good sign for resident care and indicates that the facility is well-staffed with nurses and aids. On top of considering the amount of care provided by nurses aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated against pneumonia. This facility vaccinated 99.61089 percent of its patients, which is what we like to see. Pneumonia sadly can be a life threatening illness for nursing home patients so we like it when a nursing home does not leave its residents vulnerable. Lastly, this nursing home was able to limit hospitalizations. Indeed, it had only 0.03 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days, which is a remarkably low figure.

The next area we analyzed is short-term care. This facility was awarded an impressive short-term care grade, with a B in this category. Our short-term care grades are based on the facility's quantity of highly-skilled skilled healthcare professionals. This means a wide scope of nursing services, spanning from registered nurses to physical and speech therapists, not to mention other types of therapy. Unfortunately, we were not able to track down information on registered nurse or physical therapy staffing for this nursing home. The last measure we looked at in this area is the number of patients who were able to leave the nursing home and return to the community. We found that 4.9 percent of this nursing home's patients were able to return home.

The last category we analyzed is nursing, in which this nursing home was given a B. While this proved to be its worst category score, this is still a favorable grade. In calculating a facility's nursing score, we look at the quantity of hours nurses are with patients as well as the skill levels of the nurses. This nursing home averages 0.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Finally, we also assessed certain nursing quality measures in computing our nursing grades. These include minimizing residents' pressure ulcers and major falls. We look at these data points as reliable indicators of the quality of nursing care offered, since better care tends to reduce these problems.