{"id":146360,"date":"2026-05-24T19:53:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=146360"},"modified":"2026-05-24T19:53:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T00:53:33","slug":"family-living-focus-when-a-loved-one-needs-a-skilled-nursing-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/family-living-focus-when-a-loved-one-needs-a-skilled-nursing-facility\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Living Focus: When a Loved One Needs a Skilled Nursing Facility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor<\/em>
\nEmeritus, University of Minnesota<\/em><\/p>\n

Following are tips for a successful stay for the patient, visitor, and
\ncaregiver:<\/p>\n

It is important to figure out how your care recipient can be a good patient,
\nhow you can be a good visitor and how the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) can
\nbe a good caregiver.\u00a0 One SNF Administrator said, “Good outcomes only occur
\nwhen there is communication and partnership to the care.”<\/p>\n

Being the Good Patient:<\/p>\n

Realistically help manage your pain
\nIf you felt well, you would not be in a SNF.\u00a0 People go to SNFs to recover
\nfrom knee or hip replacement surgery, to receive IV antibiotics, to
\ntransition from intense hospital care to a slightly lower level of nursing
\ncare and, hopefully, eventually back to home or to a residential care
\nfacility.\u00a0 Many times, patients are in pain and require pain medication.
\nOne guideline for patients is to help the doctors and nurses manage the pain
\neffectively. Do not cry wolf by asking every ten minutes for more pain
\npills.\u00a0 Work with the doctor to be sure the dose is adequate for the pain
\nand there is a plan for breakthrough pain.<\/p>\n

Have patience with the staff
\nRealize the staff has many patients and are on a schedule to give high
\nquality care to all of those patients.\u00a0 No day is like any other because
\nthere are always unpredictable emergencies, but there are meals to give out
\nevery day at particular times; medicine to be carefully sorted and charted
\nand given to patients several times a day; showers and restroom assistance
\nto be given as well as physical therapy and doctors’ visits to be scheduled.
\nHave patience if butter did not come with your meal and you have politely
\nrequested it, but it has not come when you would have liked.\u00a0 Have patience
\nwith the nurses as they count and recount the dosage of the medication to be
\nsure each patient receives the correct medication.\u00a0 Have patience.<\/p>\n

Be involved in your recovery
\nThe administrator reiterates, “The partnership involves the resident as they
\nneed to be receptive to care as well as staff from the facility.”\u00a0 If you
\nneed physical therapy to improve, do not resist your physical therapist.\u00a0 Be
\ninvolved and be honest with your therapist.\u00a0 If the pain is too much, maybe
\nthe time of your session can be adjusted to better suit you.\u00a0 Communicate
\nwith your therapist so they can give you the best care for you and your
\nsituation.<\/p>\n

Being the Good Visitor:<\/p>\n

Get to know the caregivers
\nIt is crucial to establish a rapport with the caregivers.\u00a0 Know who is
\ntaking care of your loved one.\u00a0 Working in a SNF takes a certain caring type
\nof person and it is not always pleasant work.\u00a0 There are cranky patients,
\ndiapers, and beds to be changed and sometimes, oozing wounds or sores that
\nneed to be carefully handled and managed.\u00a0 This is demanding work and it
\ndoes not hurt to thank someone for being kind or to know them by name.
\nBringing the occasional baked goods or bouquet of flowers as a way of thanks
\ndoes not hurt either.<\/p>\n

When necessary, talk to the caregivers about a problem.\u00a0 Some are easily
\nresolved; some may need to wait a short time for the maintenance person to
\nfix.\u00a0 The administrator stresses “families need to advocate for their loved
\none.”\u00a0 The care facilities expect families to communicate with them about
\nany perceived problems or issues.\u00a0 To help ensure success in resolving
\nissues, start with the assumption the caregivers care about your loved one
\n(they do).<\/p>\n

Know the shift change time
\nKnowing the shift change time will allow you to talk to nurses during less
\nbusy times.\u00a0 If there is one particular person who is relaying information
\nto you, know his or her shift so there is not frustration when this person
\ndoes not return the call for hours.<\/p>\n

Have patience with the patient.
\nYour loved one is in pain or, if they are getting better, probably bored.
\nEncourage them to participate in the activities at the SNF but also bring
\nthem things to do when you are not able to visit (crossword puzzles, books,
\nmagazines, a deck of cards). When you are visiting, take them outside to get
\nfresh air if possible.\u00a0 Push them around in a wheelchair or walk with them
\nfor a change of scenery if allowed.\u00a0 Play cards with them. Talk with them
\nabout your day and people they know and miss.\u00a0 Bring pictures for their
\nroom.\u00a0 Visit as often as possible.\u00a0 Patients who have visitors are known to
\nheal more quickly than those who do not.\u00a0 While you are visiting, do not be
\nafraid to say hi to some of the other patients.\u00a0 A smile and a hello to
\nsomeone stuck in wheelchair (possibly not even aware of where they are or
\nwhy) never fails to get a return smile or a twinkle in their eye.<\/p>\n

Being the Good Caregiver:<\/p>\n

Know your patients
\nIt is always heartwarming for the caregiver to see most of the people where
\nyour care recipient is staying know them by name and acknowledged them when
\nthey see them outside of their room.<\/p>\n

Leave your personal problems at home.
\nThere are some jobs where it does not matter if you are cranky because you
\ngot into a fight with your boyfriend or your car would not start that
\nmorning.\u00a0 These jobs do not involve serving sick people.\u00a0 When your job is
\nto give the best possible care to someone, there is no room for snippy
\ncomments or cranky behavior.\u00a0 Yes, it is not enjoyable to change an adult
\ndiaper, but do not make the patient feel bad for being in that position.\u00a0 No
\none purposely decided to have their body turn on them and lose control.<\/p>\n

Communicate with the patient and their family
\nCommunication is essential to giving good, quality care.\u00a0 The family needs
\nto be kept informed about treatment, physical therapy, medication changes,
\nand discharge plans.\u00a0 The administrator adds, “We need families to help with
\nthe transition to our facility and the transition back home.”\u00a0 There cannot
\nbe too much communication.\u00a0 If the SNF doctor is too busy to talk to the
\nfamily directly, someone should be appointed to be the person relaying
\ninformation.\u00a0 Calls need to be returned in a timely manner.\u00a0 Ongoing
\ncommunication during the patient’s stay will improve the care of the
\npatient, speed up recovery time, and make for a smooth transition out of the
\nfacility.<\/p>\n

All aspects of the patient’s care are integrated and, if handled
\neffectively, will speed recovery.\u00a0 The SNF administrator says, “I always
\nemphasize the partnership aspect for the care of the resident.\u00a0 It only
\nworks when we have a supportive family, a family that will be by the
\nresident’s side during therapy, meals, and care meetings.”\u00a0 These tips are
\njust a few of the ways to help that process along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gail Gilman, Family Life Consultant, M.Ed., C.F.C.S. and Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Following are tips for a successful stay for the patient, visitor, and caregiver: It is important to figure out how your care recipient can be a good patient, how you can be a good visitor and how the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-09-30 19:52:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146361,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146360\/revisions\/146361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}