A skilled nursing facility is a type of convalescent home that provides continuous care to its residents.
Skilled nursing facilities can provide a wide variety of support for patients, including wound care, diabetes management, medication monitoring, and more. In addition, some nursing home facilities offer specialized care for Alzheimer’s patients or others with dementia.
People who cannot perform their own activities of daily living are typically the ones who are placed in a skilled nursing facility, which provides 24-hour care by nurses and aides, and also have medical doctors who make rounds or are on-call service for routine and emergency care.
Not all residents of skilled nursing facilities are elderly. Young adults who have mental or physical disabilities, and are unable to live on their own, are often admitted to these types of home care facilities.
According to the National Institutes of Health, some nursing homes are set up like a hospital where the staff provides medical care, as well as physical, speech and occupational therapy with nurses’ station on each floor or unit. However, other nursing homes try to be more like home and have a more open atmosphere with open kitchens and allow couples to live together.
All centers have the goal to help individuals meet their daily physical, social, medical, and psychological needs and to return home whenever possible.
