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.

References

2004 CMS Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of Research, Development, and Information.

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