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Small House-Style Nursing Homes Get High Marks
By Joene Hendry, Reuters Health
July 4, 2007
Residents of small nursing homes appear better satisfied and report a better quality of life than do residents of traditional large nursing homes, research suggests.
Most noteworthy were the higher quality of life measurements, such as meaningful activity and relationships; comfort and a sense of security; dignity, individuality and privacy; and the enjoyment of food reported by small-house residents, professor Rosalie A. Kane of the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health in Minneapolis, told Reuters Health.
The small-house nursing homes contain private bedrooms and bathrooms, residential-style kitchens, and communal dining and sitting areas. They are staffed with the same professionals -- nurses, physicians, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, and therapy/activity personnel -- as traditional nursing homes. However, the small-house units utilize certified nursing assistants to provide cooking, housekeeping, personal laundry, and personal care to residents.
In addition to higher quality of life measurements, the 40 residents of the small-house units (4 houses of 10 residents each) had a lower incidence of later decline in activities of daily living when compared with 40 randomly selected residents in each of two traditional nursing homes, Kane and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The researchers also found the quality of care in the small-house dwellings at least equaled that provided in the traditional nursing homes and that residents showed significantly higher satisfaction with the small-house nursing home as a place to live. Small-house residents were as socially active as residents of traditional nursing home residents.
Additionally, aide-level staff at the small-house dwellings "were much more confident that they could help their residents achieve better social and psychological outcomes, felt they knew the residents under their care better, and," Kane noted, "had much higher job satisfaction on a variety of measures and were more likely to remain in the job."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, June 2007
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