Nursing home

A nursing home or skilled nursing facility (SNF) is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care. Usually the residents are elderly, but the term can apply to places of care for the mentally or physically ill. Even young patients can stay in a skilled nursing facility to receive physical, occupational, and other rehabilitative therapies following an accident or illness. In the US, nursing homes are required to have a licensed nurse on duty 24 hours a day, and during at least one shift each day, one of those nurses must be a Registered Nurse. As of December, 2002 there were a total of 16,516 nursing homes in the United States.

Consumer choices

When considering living arrangements for those who are unable to live by themselves, it is important to carefully look at many nursing homes and assisted living facilities as well as retirement homes, keeping in mind the person's abilities to take care of themselves independently.

Related Topics:
Assisted living - Retirement home

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New trends

Nursing homes are beginning to change the way they are managed and organized to create a more resident-centered environment, so they are more "home-like" and less "hospital-like." In these homes, nursing home units are replaced with a small sets of rooms surrounding a common kitchen and living room. The staff giving care is assigned to one of these "households." Residents have far more choices about when they awake, when they eat and what they want to do during the day. They also have access to more companionship such as pets. Some organizations working toward these goals are the Pioneer Network and the Eden Alternative.

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