difference between subacute/LTC/skilled nursing facilities and Rehab Hospitals?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2010

Rehab hospitals specialize in acute rehab cases. Skilled nursing facilities specialize in subacute rehab cases. A patient who has been admitted to a subacute rehab unit at a SNF or LTCF is past the acute state of illness or injury. Here's a quote from the Rochester General Hospital website:

Acute rehabilitation is a specialty that provides an intensive inpatient program to enable people who have experienced some major injury, disorder or illness to regain the skills needed to return to the community. The central nervous system and musculoskeletal systems are most often involved.

Subacute care is comprehensive inpatient care designed for someone who has an acute illness, injury, or exacerbation of a disease process. It is goal oriented treatment rendered immediately after, or instead of, acute hospitalization to treat one or more specific active complex medical conditions or to administer one or more technically complex treatments, in the context of a person’s underlying long-term conditions and overall situation.

Acute Rehabilitation | Rochester General Hospital

FOLO: Caregiver Magazine - What is Subacute Care?

hopingtobeanRNsoon · Jul 14, 2010

Thank you for your reply. i am currently working in a skilled nursing facility, not i even sure if you call it a sub acute unit but yes there are PTs/OTs and speech there too but got an offer to work in a rehab hospital. I am about to hit my one year mark working as an RN and would just like to get more and more experience to get into a hospital setting. i understand that the rehab hospital is more medically intense and more acute so i think i will be going for that =)

rogersRN · Jul 21, 2010

Hello,

I work in an LTAC facility, which stands for long term acute care. It is a rehab hospital. Rehabs are for people that are too sick to be in "sub-acute" care aka skilled nursing facility or nursing home. Def go for the Rehab you will learn more.