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Signs of a Good Nursing Home

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has developed a checklist to help you choose a nursing home. It reflects these values and signs of a good nursing home:

  • Dignity. Residents are treated with dignity and calls for assistance are answered promptly. Staff knocks before entering a resident’s room; privacy is respected. The staff is friendly, supportive, and caring.
  • Activity. Residents can participate in a variety of social and educational activities. Community members are encouraged to come into the nursing home, and group trips are arranged so that residents may attend outside events. You’ll easily recognize the opposite of activity–the loneliness of residents spending hours by the television or nursing station.
  • Good food. Well–balanced meals are served in pleasant surroundings. Residents get help eating if they require it. Some nursing homes even provide ethnic meals based on the resident’s preferences.
  • Homelike surroundings. Residents have their own decorations or furnishings and are encouraged to grow plants or venture outdoors, if interested and able. The facility may keep pets on the premises or allow pets to visit (see The Eden Alternative and Embracing the Eden Alternative Geriatr Nurs 1999 May–Jun;20(3):158–61). In some communities, volunteer organizations such as “Pets on Wheels” bring dogs and cats to visit with nursing home residents on a regular basis (Pets on Wheels, Ladies Home Journal). Animals can provide warmth and affection, distract residents from depressing thoughts, lessen tension and stress, and increase sociability (Influence of an Animal on Social Interactions, Am J Occup Ther 1993 Jun;47(6):529–34).
  • Amenities. Some nursing homes provide extras such as in–room television or music systems. Although such amenities alone do not define a good nursing home, they can help a senior to feel more at home.
  • Participation. Active resident and family councils reach decisions about everyday living conditions in the nursing home and encourage the airing of complaints and suggestions.

In contrast, an inadequate nursing facility is characterized by a lack of respect for residents and may often rely on the use of physical or chemical restraints. Another bad sign is the presence of strong odors, indicating that residents are not being helped to the bathroom or kept clean. Unanswered calls for help indicate both understaffing and disregard for residents.

For further information about finding a good nursing home, see Visiting a Nursing Home and Licensing, Certification.

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