Difference between rest home and nursing home?

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jul 3, 2011

Hmmm...I wonder! When I was a child there was a TB rest home down the road. It was for all ages of people who had TB. When they got well, they went home. Might a rest home, today, be a temporary place for people to recuperate from one thing or the other, until they were well enough to be home?

caliotter3 · Jul 3, 2011

In all the years I've been in health care have never been made aware of any differences, just a different name. Sort of like soda and pop.

tyvin, BSN, RN · Jul 3, 2011

Since "nursing home" has a bad reputation in some places they prefer to call themselves many things; rest home, rehab of the blah blah, etc... and then you have the current trend of assisted living which is nothing but a glorified step down nursing home (just my opinion).

One time I went to interview at a place that called themselves "(insert city)Medical Center", imagine my shock when I got there ... I was trying to get away from a nursing home I was working in. Not that they are all bad but it just isn't my niche. Another thing, working in a nursing home did help me get my start absolutely. It was the danger inherent in working in one where you have >40 patients. Let's be real, something needs to be done about that ... anyway.

You got to remember is that nursing homes are taking on more acute patients these days and also is the place to go after a knee or hip if you can't go home (SNF) for temporary stay. So they are all different but the same in the sense that they are the only place to go when you can't go home and the hospital won't keep you.

I like the soda and pop analogy ... also there's a cashew and a walnut and the other nuts; in the end, they're all just nuts.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Jul 4, 2011

In Massachusetts there is a huge difference between a rest home and a nursing home. Nursing homes have nurses 24/7, rest homes do not. Nursing homes have CNAs, rest homes do not. Rest homes around here are a cheaper version of assisted living. The good ones have staff who oversee meds and meals. The bad ones have little to no staff and the people who live there are pretty much on their own.

mrs tink rn · Jul 7, 2011

In Massachusetts there is a huge difference between a rest home and a nursing home. Nursing homes have nurses 24/7, rest homes do not. Nursing homes have CNAs, rest homes do not. Rest homes around here are a cheaper version of assisted living. The good ones have staff who oversee meds and meals. The bad ones have little to no staff and the people who live there are pretty much on their own.

Same here in Delaware. I am only aware of one "rest home". One of the nurses I work withalso works there. She said that when she leaves after bedtime med pass (around 10) there are no nurses in the building until 7 am. I wonder how that works with Medicare.