Nursing homes have traditionally projected an institutional feel, typically with minimal landscape design.
According to Zimmerman's 2003 "Dementia Care" study, 24 percent of assisted living residents and 27 percent of those in
nursing homes experienced depression.
In the healthcare field, almost without exception, the beneficiaries of "earmarks" are hospitals, outpatient programs, and universities;
nursing homes are a rare, perhaps unique, exception.
CareScout, formed in 1977, is the first private company to ever rate
nursing homes, Bua said.
* the number of
nursing homes with findings of immediate jeopardy, substandard quality of care, or actual harm to residents;
He notes that only 33 out of 33,000 paroles statewide are in
nursing homes.
Katz and Parmelee have estimated that the rates of depression within
nursing home residents may dramatically exceed those found in the general population, involving some 30 to 50% of the
nursing home population.
"We don't support keeping
nursing homes open if they're not providing good care," said Susan Weiss, vice president of American Homes and Services for the Aging in Washington D.C.
Richard Herrick, president and CEO of New York State Facilities Association Inc., which represents for-profit
nursing homes, agrees that many
nursing homes "are just hanging on by their fingernails.
He also believes significant opportunities exist for the rehabilitation sections of
nursing homes to serve as settings for practical studies on prevention of depression after a stroke.
Breaux: There is no easy fix to the workforce problem facing
nursing homes. The nation's workforce crisis stretches across the entire long term care continuum.
In most
nursing homes today, this student profile fits advanced practice nurses better than nurse aides, most of whom have a high school education or less.
