Austin Nursing Homes Information

Certain nursing homes, or skilled nursing facilities, deliver specialized treatment through expert care units. These facilities admit patients with health problems like memory loss or spinal injuries. Such services are often offered in addition to more general forms of nursing care, short-term and long-term care.

Short-term care admits patients who are need rehabilitation services for acute medical events like strokes, aneurisms, heart attacks, falls and surgeries. Prior to a short-term nursing stay, three of every four patients were hospitalized due to medical trauma. Their recovery period is helped along by a professionally mapped plan of recuperation. On a prescribed basis, patients work through physical, speech, respiratory or occupational therapy sessions to return their functions and strength to pre-trauma levels. Short-term care has the objective of getting patients to a point where they can move to less comprehensive types of care, like assisted living or in home care.

With short-term care often as the intermediate stage of a patient’s recovery process, hospital care usually precedes a nursing stay. Patients should try to receive the best possible hospital care, under the circumstances, because it can affect a patients’ outcome in the future. Austin’s most quality health care services, based on patients’ prior hospital experiences, are provided by St. David’s Medical Center, The Hospital at Westlake Medical Center and North Austin Medical Center.

Long-term care focuses on helping maintain or improve the health of patients with moderate to severe mental or physical impairments. Patients seek often seek this type of care because of deterioration in an existing condition, like Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, cancer, kidney disease or diabetes. They exhibit symptoms that demand responsive, extensive and elaborate forms of treatment. Doctors and nurses are on call around-the-clock to give continuous health monitoring and to execute medical skills like blood testing, injections, colostomies, tracheostomies, medication adjustments and respiratory therapy. Non-medical caregivers aid patients who cannot independently complete activities of daily living. Recreational planners are responsible for coordinating games, events, activities, dinners and outings that promote social interaction and engagement among patients.

The monthly cost for Austin skilled nursing facility care is more than $600 higher than the Texas median. Private and semi-private SNF rooms cost $5,718 and $4,745 per month, respectively.

Many seniors and their families are not properly prepared for nursing care when the need arises. Although 70 percent of seniors over 65 will need to be admitted to long-term care in their life, many are blindsided by the diagnosis. This often stems from the fact that many patients do not believe it will be them in a nursing home. Today, parents also tell them adult children they do not wish to ever be put in a nursing home. Although this is the prevailing sentiment, there are many situations in which patients can benefit greatly through nursing care. Many long-term patients are able to improve their medical conditions and return to a lower level of care.