Visit a facility on different days and at various times, including mealtimes, taking note of nursing staff levels. Talk to members of the nursing staff about how long they and others have worked there. Ask the nursing home administrators about staff-to-resident ratios. Get a copy of the most recent state survey of the facility to learn if it has been cited for deficiencies. Ask if a facility has a plan of care for each resident and if it is revised continually. Note the cleanliness of the facility. Is it clean? Do the residents look clean and well cared for? Talk to visiting family members if possible and get their opinon. Are they happy with how their loved one is being treated? It is also recommended that the individual be assessed both mentally and physically to determine whether a nursing home is appropriate for their stage in life.

I agree with the answer stated previously and want to emphasize that you should definitely talk to family members of residents as well as any residents who are mentally stable. If you decide to put a family member in a nursing home, don't become routine when visiting them! Go at different times of the day and different days of the week, go straight to the resident's room to check on them before talking to the staff or doctors. Most nursing homes have "set" visiting hours, but I have walked into my father's past nursing homes in the middle of the night just to check on him. Care for a loved one can become lax when the staff knows your routine and what day/time you usually come. If a family member who is a resident in a nursing home has a complaint, pay attention! Don't think that they might be exaggerating to make you feel guilty. No matter how nice the staff can appear to your face, you aren't there 24/7. That being said, most persons in the adult care field have a heart and treat the patients with kindness and respect. It's just the few who don't that you have to watch out for. We have had to fight with a number of nursing homes before getting my father into a nice one. Where he is now they have pleasant staff (for the most part) and most of them actually enjoy their work. Your state health department can tell you where to find reports of state inspections of your local nursing homes. These reports will tell you if the nursing home was cited for anything from not having enough staff to kitchen workers not being certified.

The first thing you should notice if there is a smell when you enter the home,and go at different times,and check out the staff,find out the visting times and does that meet your life style.

You should also consider how close you are(geographically) to the LTCF of choice. Regular visits from family can make the transition a lot smoother for residents.

We have a nursing home that is about seven miles from where we live, and in the compound is another facility, called an "assisted living facility". My daughter works there on the night shift, as the person responsible for giving the patients their medications as prescribed by their doctors. I am mentioning this, because many people do not know about assisted living facilities. It is for patients who can take care of themselves without constant care. They can dress themselves,bathe etc.without any help, walk around the facility any time they want to. My mother-in-law, who is 86 is there, and she is so happy that she made the move about three years ago. They provide three very good meals a day in a centralized cafeteria, at a predetermined time. There are always snacks available to the patients. The patients are allowed to leave anytime they desire, to go to family functions, picnics, graduation parties etc. Last week we picked my mother-in-law up, and we brought her to a graduation party for my neice. It makes my wife and myself very happy knowing that there is always someone there, just in case of an emergency. We do not worry about her, as much as we did when she was living alone in her home. Things to look for would be similar to when looking for a nursing home. I hope this helped..Good Luck..

Foxy nurses and a home where sex among patients and staff is permitted. Young acting patients with a normal sex drive. Plenty of Viagra

We did all the research beforehand and read all the reports and citations, everything we could get our eyeballs on. But it's still not enough, even visiting them at different times isn't enough. We went through 4 places before finding one for my MIL. The first one which was excellent by reputation and on paper were just awful with personal care and attention. Sure, if someone was ambulatory and could make all the bingo games they seemed fine, but if someone was recovering from a broken hip and had severe dementia like my MIL, she didn't get care. She kept getting mysterious wounds, bruises, cuts. Then the next one had rotating staff problems, so many changes we never knew who was going to be there. They decided they didn't want to treat a bladder infection as the staff doctor didn't have time to personally see her, so she ended back in the hospital. Third one was very friendly, loved the people, but when it came to eating, they just left her in her room, never brought her out where there were other people and if we weren't there hand feeding her, she didn't eat, lost so much weight, quit drinking she ended up back in the hospital and nearly died, was hallucinating, it was terrible:-( The last one wasn't one of the highly thought of places but the people stay put, like their work and do a good job. It's not the most modern but it's clean and they really seem to care. She eats and drinks and is walked, not wheeled into the dining area to sit with others. She will usually eat by herself with all the activity going on. The last place I would never have thought would work but like I said, you never know. I'm just sorry she had to suffer through those other places before we found a good one:-( I pity any family that has to make those kinds of choices. It's hard!!

Loose old women

look for things to avoid...

Maybe talk to the staff who are out back smoking. Once they're outside the building and not being 'watched' they'll tell you anything. Just a simple "please tell me, be honest, should I send my mom here?"

if you can afford it find the smaller places, those who only take in 8-10 or maybe no more than 15 folks, They tend to treat these people more like family, inspect the place, talk to the neighbors, check with the police to see if any problems here, meet the people staying there and there family's. Or if you can afford it hire in a retired nurse or someone with that type of experience to stay with them in there home, if they have extra room(guest) someone can come in shifts they most be able to cook, have basic nursing skills, and willing to clean up alittle. all depends on what a person can afford. the assisted living places can be great also for those who ca still do for them selfs, but be careful of large nursing home, many times folks get lost in the system there and no matter how much the family trys its not enough as most of todays nurse's just do not care. I can say this because I worked at 3 different ones in my nursing time of being a LVN and in training, many of those I worked with just didn't care even then, and I see it more today, the level of care in hospital's is not what I was trained 30 plus yrs ago

a clean smell, orderly environment, friendly staff, happy, engaged residents and regular activities