Skilled Nursing is a recovery solution for patients who are not doing well enough to go home after hospitalization. It is also a solution for families who have a loved one that needs more time to heal after surgery or hospitalization but no one to provide needed support in their home. The goal is to use nursing, physician support and therapy to improve the patient’s ability to function independently so he or she can go back to thriving at home.
As a general example, a knee or hip surgery patient is generally seen by Physical and Occupational Therapy 5 to 7 days a week. Treatment times average 50 minutes per discipline based on the resident’s tolerance level and physician need.Treatments include intervals of lower extremity exercises and all mobility activities as well as activities of daily living retraining and pain management. For hip patients, this includes training facility staff on weight bearing tolerance and safety precautions for each individual patient.
Orders vary dependent upon specific physician requests. The nursing department works in cooperation with the therapy department to integrate the goals of therapy with the patient’s clinical goals to maximize safety and progress of the patient.