Myths associated with selecting quality nursing home care suggest quick and easy ways to identify quality of care. In fact, relying on these myths to disastrous results. I stated a few of the most common myths in hopes of helping you avoid some of the problems commonly found in many nursing homes.

1. The smell test

You’ve heard it repeatedly: “The best way to improve the quality of care in a nursing home has to be determined to be alert to bad odors during your visit to the house.”

This rarely works. Why? Nursing home administrators have heard the same advice. As a result, they are particularly sensitive to unpleasant odors in an area that could receive visitors. Almost all will do their best to unpleasant odors as quickly as possible, even if it means avoiding their primary responsibility to remove their inhabitants.

2. Personal recommendation

Recently I heard a guest on a radio talk show state that the best way to find great nursing home care is to get recommendations from a friend. Like other myths, there is some truth here, but you should check whether your friend has had extensive interactions with the nursing home recommended. Often this is not the case.

Last weekend I dealt with an emergency call from Jim, a friend who had his mother in a nursing home recommended by a friend.Although she was recuperating from a stroke, no nurse or aide checked on her condition for more than 14 hours. Jim discovered her in the morning with lots of cuts and bruises, her sheets soaked in blood. He was surprised that anyone would recommend such a bad institution.

“My friend said her grandmother in this particular nursing home,” he reported. ”So, I thought it would provide good care.”

“How often does your friend visit her grandmother?” I asked him.

“I did not think to ask,” he replied.

“And you have the latest survey for that nursing home?”

“No,” he replied. ”I thought a personal recommendation was all I needed.”

Jim’s mother is now back in an area hospital. Nobody knows yet how much damage this experience caused to her recovery.

3. You get what you pay for

Nowhere is this statement less applicable than in the elderly. In fact, I would replace it with another shibboleth – “Buyer Beware.”Our own research, includes more than 6000 nurses and more than 100 assisted living facilities shows no relationship between cost and quality of care. You will find the quality of care in an expensive facility, or you can not! The fact that a facility is low cost does not indicate a poor, average or quality of care to get. You should do your homework. Relying on price as the only indicator of quality of care can lead to disastrous results.

4. Adequate Staffing Equals Quality Care

A recent report by the Senate Special Committee on Aging indicated that quality of care for a nursing home resident requires more than three hours per day of nursing and nursing aide time.However, statistical analysis of the latest federal database on nursing home deficiencies indicates no relationship between the quality of care and the workforce. This finding is consistent with a number of university studies.

What do you seek, then nursing workforce?

There is a level below which nursing homes are so understaffed that quality care can not be provided. I suggest you not every house with a level less than two hours per day per capita to consider. For levels higher than this, I would not focus on the number of hours available for care, but the motivation of the staff available to provide care. Those who are motivated to care for the elderly will.Those who are only motivated by a salary will probably provide shoddy care regardless of their number.

5. A well-known chain would best care

This is another myth that can lead to a tragedy. Sometimes known companies offer top-quality care. In other cases, however, a quick overview of newspapers and magazines to show other companies with a long record of legal problems arising from allegations of neglect and abuse. Such an undertaking was simultaneously sued by a number of states attorneys general.

How will you know? The company is not likely to tell you, so you will not know unless you take the time to look at the historical performance of the company.