When the time comes that you must put a parent, spouse, or loved one in a nursing home, it will be one of the hardest decisions you will ever make.  When you come to that decision, you want a place that is safe and enjoyable for your loved one, where the staff is caring, and the medical care is good.

In order to find a nursing home with these criteria, you must research the nursing homes in your area first.  Unfortunately, many times the circumstances do not allow us to make an adequate search - more than 60 percent of new nursing home residents are admitted directly from hospitals who are likely eager to discharge the patient to a longer term facility.  Often, this results in a loved one getting sent to the nearest empty bed regardless of the quality of the home.  The first thing to keep in mind is, even if you find yourself in these circumstances, it's not too late to find a good nursing home and move your loved one there.

To start this search process, you can look up nursing homes in your area by going to medicare.gov and clicking on the "nursing home compare" tool.  This is a useful tool that allows you to compare different aspects of nursing homes in your state or local area.  The website also offers a useful brochure entitled Medicare's Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home, which can be found at http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/02174.pdf. 

Also remember that these rankings have their limits, and there is no substitute for visiting the nursing home itself.  When you visit a nursing home, take the checklist from the Nursing Home Compare website with you, which can be found at http://www.medicare.gov/nursing/checklist.pdf.

When you visit a nursing home, there are at least two topics you should ask about, "person-centered care" and "consistent assignment."  Person-centered care means that residents are allowed wake up and go to bed when they would like, eat when they would like, and for the most part, set their own schedules rather than adhering to the rigid schedule of the nursing home that forces all of its residents to do everything at the same time.  Consistent assignment means that the residents are cared for by the same staff members, nurses, and doctors on a regular basis.  This allows the residents to build relationships with the people caring for them, which always results in better care.

Another question you might ask is about staff turnover.  If there is less than 30% turnover on an annual basis, that is considered good.  If there is more than 50%, you might want to consider looking for another nursing home.  Of course, you should also use your own common sense and feel for the place when you visit a nursing home.

Lastly, every state has a long-term care ombudsman who is an advocate for nursing home residents and patients.  You should contact your local ombudsman when selecting a nursing home.  You can find the ombudsman for Arkansas or any other state at http://www.ltcombudsman.org/ombudsman.

Bailey & Oliver wishes you the best of luck with this difficult process.