Des Moines Nursing Homes

Des Moines nursing homes deliver physical and mental medical care for patients with rehabilitative or serious health concerns. Patients need periodic to continuous monitoring and health management from a dedicated staff of physicians, nurses, social workers and therapists. Also called skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes work closely with patients and family members to meet all their social and medical needs.

Many Des Moines skilled nursing facilities offer specialized care for specific medical problems. The most general breakdown of care is between short-term and long-term care. Short-term care is for patients that have had an acute medical crisis. They need to rehabilitate their strength and functions due to strokes, heart attacks, aneurisms, invasive surgery or fall related injuries. Nursing homes have physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapy available for each patient’s individual path of recovery. The goal for short-term care is to help patients move to less inclusive care, like assisted living or in home options, or back to their normal lives. Long-term care is for patients with moderate to severe impairments such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart and liver problems or general physical decline. Although some long-term patients will need hospice care, many see enough improvement in their condition to warrant a move to lesser levels of care. Doctors and nurses are on hand to provide health management and medical procedures, while non-medical personnel aid with activities of daily living. Social workers are responsible for spending time with patients by talking, watching television, fostering social interaction between patients or playing games with them.

Most long-term stays are needed due to a decline in the state of a known condition. Short-term stays are usually unforeseen because of an acute medical crisis requiring a hospitalization. If further treatment is needed, then a doctor will approve a nursing care stay. The best quality hospitals allow access to care that will help patients jump start their recovery. In Des Moines the highest quality hospitals, based on patients’ hospital experiences, are Iowa Lutheran Hospital and Iowa Methodist Medical Center.

Des Moines has nursing care costs that fall quite a bit under the national average and right around the Iowa state median. Semi-private SNF rooms have a monthly cost of $4,639. Private SNF accommodations cost $5,064 per month. Other senior care costs are closer to the national average. Assisted living care rooms cost $3,211 per month.

Some nursing facilities have reputations for improper and neglectful care. This is often the case with poorly trained caregivers that may deliver inappropriate care such as overusing restraining or medication to subdue senior patients that refuse medicine or have lose their basic thought process. This is not the standard for the industry. Many institutions offer the finest quality medical treatment and compassionate and dedicated care. Our site wants to give seniors and their families the information they need to clear up the complex issues of nursing care. We believe they have the right to find nursing care that matches their medical, emotional and financial needs.