In this article today I'd like to discuss several tips, tricks, and techniques that you can use to find the best nursing home for your elderly parent or friend. Finding the right nursing home, one that really cares about its residents, is incredibly important because they are worth it.

The fact of the matter is that very few residents of nursing homes are actually beaten or are starved or severely hurt in any way. Sometimes however the residents can be neglected which can be dangerous depending on the age of your loved one. Unfortunately this happens even at some of the best nursing homes but hopefully we can help mitigate it with the tips I'm going to give you today.

There's no two ways about it, the only way you're ever going to find out how well a nursing home operates is to go undercover yourself and snoop around. People that you trust may recommend a place, but until you see it firsthand you never really know.

Be sure not to schedule your visit before hand because nursing home employees will try to hide things they don't want you see or at the very least steer you clear of areas they don't want you to see.

The best thing to do is to go with a friend who has a relative that already lives there and pretend to visit them. While you are "visiting" snoop around as much as possible. Roam around freely and if anybody asks what you're doing tell them you got lost and ask them for directions back to your friend's room.

If you don't know anybody directly, you may have to widen your search. Ask people at work, ask people at church, ask people at your friends kids basketball game... it doesn't matter if you really care about your loved ones you'll do whatever is needed to get an "in".

While you are undercover there are a few things that you should pay special attention to. First off notice the overall level of cleanliness of the place and also of the orderlies. The cleaner the place is and the cleaner the orderlies are the better off you are.

Next watch the general staff members and how well they interact with the residents. Are they kind and considerate or do they seem to ignore them or push them around or speak harshly to them? This should be fairly obvious to see.

Next observe the overall level of privacy throughout the building. As you walk around are you able to peer into rooms and see residents being bathed or otherwise treated in a manner they would rather keep private?

Finally you should talk to people who live there directly as much as possible and see what they think about the place. Introduce yourself politely and ask how they like different parts of the place like the food or the activities or the amenities or anything else. How freely do the people speak with you? In a well-run facility people generally feel free to, well, speak freely even if they are unhappy. A warning sign is when many of the residents are scared to talk to you at all.

So there you have several fairly common sense and easy to implement ways that you can use in order to determine whether a nursing home is right for your elderly loved one. It can be a big decision but with a little groundwork you should do just fine.