What is a Skilled Nursing Facility?
The amount and type of support you receive after an injury or hospital stay may significantly impact the healing process. Selecting the post-acute care option that’s right for you can increase your chances of a speedy and efficient recovery. With repisodic, you have access to the right resources to research your options so you can find the facility and services that are most qualified to meet your needs.
What is Post-Acute Care?
Post-acute care is all the health-related services that patients receive after, or in some cases instead of, care at the doctor’s office or hospital. Depending on the type of post-acute care provider, the services offered may be medical or non-medical in nature.
Types of Post-Acute Care Providers (PACs)
- Home Health Care – agencies that send medical professionals to patients’ homes so patients can receive skilled nursing and rehabilitation without going to a hospital or residential facility. Common services provided through home health care are wound care, physical therapy, and injections.
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) – short-term residential healthcare locations for patients who no longer need to be in a hospital but require a higher level of medical care than can be provided at home. Common services provided at a skilled nursing facility include physical/occupational rehabilitation, speech and language therapy, and complex wound care.
- In-Patient Rehabilitation Facilities – residential healthcare locations that provide intensive hospital-level care for patients with complex conditions such as spinal cord diseases or traumatic brain injuries. Common services provided through inpatient rehabilitation facilities include physical therapy and stroke rehabilitation.
- Long Term Care Hospitals – long-term residential locations that offer the same level of round-the-clock care as traditional hospitals or intensive care units, but over a longer period of time (usually a month). Common services provided at long term care hospitals include ventilator care, intravenous (IV) therapy, and dialysis.
To learn more about post-acute care, read our blog post: What is Post Acute Care?
More on Skilled Nursing Facilities
A skilled nursing facility is a temporary residential facility that offers around the clock high level medical care and rehabilitation. These facilities provide long-term or short-term assistance to help patients regain independence and return to their home or to an assisted living center following an injury or hospital stay.
- Long Term Care – for aging patients, namely those with a chronic medical condition, whose families cannot provide 24/7 care
- Medication administration (needle, IV) and blood transfusions
- Terminal illness care
- Diabetes management
- Custodial care
- Catheter and colostomy care
- Durable medical equipment (walker, wheelchair, home oxygen equipment)
- Short Term Care – for elderly patients, often post-injury or post-surgery, who require rehabilitative care before returning home or to an assisted living facility
- Physical/occupational therapy
- Speech-language pathology services
- Stroke recovery
- Post-hospital/post-surgery care
- Wound care
To learn more about narrowing down your search, this blog post.
Are you ready to start searching for a skilled nursing facility? Get started now with repisodic: search skilled nursing facilities for free!