Nursing Home Definition

NURSING HOMES

Nursing homes are residential health care facilities that provide nursing care and supervision twenty-four hours per day. In addition to skilled nursing services, physical, occupational, and speech therapy are usually offered. These therapies are designed to enable residents to recover and improve functional ability lost as a result of disease or injury. In addition, residents may receive social services and engage in recreational activities designed to improve physical and mental health. Residents also receive assistance with activities of daily living such as eating, dressing, walking, toileting, transferring between a bed and chair, and bathing. Typically, a nursing-home resident will need help in three or more of these activities of daily living.

Nursing homes form part of the continuum-of-care options available for persons with chronic or long-term health care needs. This continuum ranges from independent home care to care within intensive-care units of hospitals. Not all nursing homes are the same. Some nursing homes provide basic services, called "custodial services." Others, called "subacute" facilities provide highly skilled and technologically complex services that resemble medical units in hospitals. Many provide a mix of services.

Source : http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/nursing-homes#nursinghomes