Care Options: LTC Treatment Variations - Nursing Homes

A nursing home provides skilled care and rehabilitation services to people with illnesses, injuries or functional disabilities. While most facilities serve the elderly, some serve younger people with special needs. These include the developmentally disabled and mentally ill.  Once thought of as a service primarily for the elderly, nursing homes are starting to offer more and more types of care.

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Nursing Home Features

Nursing homes are sometimes operated within a hospital or retirement community. These facilities offer medical treatment that is primarily custodial care; however, all operate under the supervision of licensed nurses.   Many homes now offer treatment options that were limited to a hospital setting in the past. Most also now focus their attention on rehabilitation, so patients can return to their own homes. Some of the services a nursing home may provide include:

• Physical and occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Respiratory therapy
• Alzheimer’s and dementia care
• Cancer treatment
• Cardiovascular and pulmonary disease treatment
• Therapy for individuals who have suffered head trauma
• Therapy for mental illness or developmental disabilities
• Neurological and neuromuscular diseases
• Help with paraplegic or quadriplegic impairments
• Stroke and trauma recovery
• Trauma recovery
• Severe wound care treatment

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The Strengths of a Nursing Home Solution

Often, a physician will recommend nursing home care as the best option for a patient who is being discharged from the hospital but will still need skilled care before he or she will be completely ready to return home. In these situations, the patient typically needs more attention than the family is able to provide, particularly when individual medical needs are extensive.  There are different levels of nursing home care. These can range from:

• Supervision only
• Assistance with daily living
• Physical therapy
• 24 hour or otherwise intensive nursing care
• Occupational therapy
• Speech therapy
• Respiratory therapy
• Reality therapy

Various medical specialists are also available to residents at nursing homes. The same help with daily living that is offered at assisted living facilities are also offered at nursing homes. These include:

• Personal care
• Assistance with getting to the bathroom or incontinence
• Assistance with eating and meal preparation
• Mobility assistance
• Help using the telephone
• Transportation
• Laundry and housekeeping

Social activities, like games, movies, arts and crafts and prayer groups are usually also offered at nursing homes. In the interests of transitioning patients, nursing homes may also offer home health care; adult day care and respite care services.  Identifying the special needs of your loved one and the services offered by various facilities will help you explore the available alternatives and make the best possible decision. Purchasing LTC insurance can help ensure you have a broad range of choices.

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