Modernizing Long-Term Care- The Evolution of Nursing Facilities and the Rise of Subacute Care Services

Modernizing Long-Term Care- The Evolution of Nursing Facilities and the Rise of Subacute Care Services

I agree with the change in terminology from nursing homes to nursing facilities. Nursing homes and nursing facilities are similar in that they all define long-term care provision facilities. However, a nursing home is a permanent residence for persons who need acute care, whereas nursing facilities offer temporary residency for individuals undergoing rehabilitative care.

Stigma against nursing homes continues to be a determining factor in its selection as a point of long-term care amongst many individuals. This is because of the historical downfalls that met these care facilities during their initiation. These homes were associated with poor quality care and little regard for respect for human life (Mor et al., 2018).

Changes in terminology will have little impact on the quality of care since the quality of care in nursing homes is not defined by its name but by the purpose for which they were instituted. Patient-centered care remains an agenda in long-term care and produces positive benefits in quality care realization.

Nursing homes must make several operational alterations to cover the ever-changing demographics. These changes include increasing their capacity by employing more caregivers and training them on specialties required to address clients’ needs. Additionally, more nursing homes will have to be built to prevent congestion.

Subacute care units are settings designed to offer rehabilitative care on a short-term basis. They were established in 1983 by the Department of Health Care Services to provide subacute care. Subacute care has provided direct care to patients and prevented costs attributable to unnecessary hospitalizations (McPhail & Haines, 2017).

Subacute care has enabled patients to evade high care costs attributable to avoidable hospitalizations. Subacute care should be an integral component of long-term care facilities. Due to their complexities, persons requiring long-term care are more likely to be hospitalized.

Funding and staffing are considerably higher for nursing homes than subacute care facilities due to the higher admission numbers and the higher volume of patients received in nursing homes. Nursing homes are also more regulated and more marketed than subacute care facilities.

References

McPhail, S., & Haines, T. (2017). Patients undergoing subacute rehabilitation have accurate expectations of their health-related quality of life at discharge. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 10(1), 94. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-10-94

Mor, V., Thomas, K., & Rahman, M. (2018). Defining and Measuring Nursing Home Placement. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(10), 1866-1868. https://doi.org/10.1111/

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The term “nursing home” was synonymous with long-term care during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although today, the exclusive use of the term “long-term care” is no longer accurate for nursing homes, it continues to remain and will not change easily. However, newer terms such as “nursing facilities” will help clarify the role of specific long-term care organizations and differentiate them from others in the healthcare industry.

Modernizing Long-Term Care- The Evolution of Nursing Facilities and the Rise of Subacute Care Services

Subacute care is a relatively new but rapidly growing medical service in the continuum of care. Today, it is considered the fastest-growing segment of the healthcare delivery system.

Research online references such as EBSCOhost, SocINDEX, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), or PubMed for information on nursing facilities and subacute units and respond to the following questions:

Do you agree with the change in the terminology of nursing homes to nursing facilities? Why or why not? How do the terms relate to each other?
What impact does the historical perspective of the nursing home have on the stigma related to the quality of care?
How were nursing facilities developed? What have been the consequences of the change in terminology? Do you think the change in terminology will impact the quality of care in the future? If yes, how? If no, why?
What changes do you see nursing homes making in the future to keep up with the ever-changing needs of seniors demographics?
What are subacute units? How did subacute care emerge? What are the strengths and limitations of the emergence of subacute care in long-term care as related to issues in levels of patients’ acuity (various levels of nursing care based on the needs of patients)? Support your answer with relevant examples.
What is the impact of subacute care on the cost and quality of care? Do you think subacute care needs to be an integral component of hospitals, or should it be an integral part of the long-term care system? Provide a rationale for your answer.
Based on your learning about nursing home and subacute care, compare their funding, staffing, regulation, and marketing.

Use your course and textbook readings and the South University Online Library to support your work. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Your initial posting should be addressed at 150-300 words. Post your response to the Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Respond to at least two posts by the end of the week.. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.