Why Is Skilled Nursing Care Essential To A Patient's Recovery?

Many people typically use the terms skilled nursing, assisted living, and nursing home interchangeably, but all are different terms in reality. A nursing home is a term used to refer to a building or an area where patients are assisted with medical treatments and nursing. Assisted living is medical help for seniors who don’t need nursing around the clock but need people who could assist them with their daily living activities (ADL). ADLs incorporate assistance and personal care while getting out of bed, eating, bathing, and also help with medication reminders.

Skilled nursing care refers to a patient’s need for healthcare and treatment that licensed nurses can only provide. This type of health service or personal care is usually offered in hospitals, assisted communities, life plan communities, nursing homes, and other certified locations. Skilled nursing is regulated by the U.S Department of Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). To get certified from CMS, skilled nursing communities have to follow strict criteria and go through periodic inspections from time to time.

What Are The Types Of Skilled Nursing Care?

Suppose you or your loved one suffers a stroke, surgery, or receives an extensive heart treatment or kidney treatment. In that case, you may require rehabilitation at a skilled nursing community center after getting discharged from the hospital. Medicare will pay for the skilled nursing therapies if the physician prescribes specialized treatments for you. At a skilled nurse community center, one can receive different physical and occupational medical facilities like medications, medical equipment and supplies, social services, and many more. However, not just any healthcare center, one must go to a Medicare-certified skilled nursing community to avail of these facilities. There are various types of skilled nursing care like:

• Physical Therapy: If you are recovering from a heart stroke, kidney dysfunction, surgery, or a significant illness, physical therapy refers to the personal care offered by the rehabilitation team that will create a personalized plan for you so that you get a quick recovery. This healthcare process is mainly for those patients who face challenges due to physical incapabilities and dysfunction.
• Occupational Therapy: This section of healthcare differs from the previous one. In this therapy, patients are assisted and helped to adapt to social and physical environments. This therapy includes getting dressed, memory training, and coordination exercises.
• Speech therapy: This speech therapy addresses issues like improper communication and swallowing dysfunction. Speech and language pathologists design treatment plans to help patients with speech defects and language disabilities. They also provide alternate communication strategies and give appropriate diet recommendations.

Other than these three major categories of services, skilled nursing staff also includes registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, licensed vocational nurses, audiologists, and medical directors. Now that you know the types of skilled nurse care, let us discuss why skilled nursing is essential for recovery.

The following are the reasons to opt for skilled nursing care:

• Intensive Care: In skilled nursing care centers, you can find the essential intensive care unit equipment like resuscitator bags, nasogastric tubes, sequential compression devices, indwelling urinary catheters, ventilators, syringe pump, ICU bedside monitors, central venous catheters, saturation monitor, endotracheal tube, oxygen masks and many more. In these units, you find these highly specialized devices at reasonable costs.
• Accessible Available Medication: These healthcare community centers provide you with all the healthcare facilities along with the necessary medication. If you have a severe health condition and live in a location where certain drugs are not available, you can always choose a skilled nursing care center for better treatment and personal care. These healthcare centers are updated with the medication stocks needed in an emergency.
• Personal Care Staff: If you or your loved one needs a nurturing and caring treatment, there is no better place than a skilled nursing care center. These skilled nurses are given special training on how to take care of patients suffering from different diseases. They have different techniques for different types of patients. With proper guided treatments, medications, and nurturing, the patients recover faster than usual. That is why patients and their families often prefer skilled nursing care centers more than their residents. You get the optimum level of care, attention, and practical medical tools at these healthcare centers that help you recover quickly.
• Cost-Effective Healthcare: At skilled nursing care units, you get the medications and the treatment at a much-reduced price. CMS will also pay for skilled nursing therapies if the physician prescribes specialized treatments. Thus these healthcare centers are cost-effective.

I hope you have got an overview of skilled nursing care and why it is essential to get treatment from skilled nursing centers.