Skilled Nursing Care indicates a "higher level" of care (such as injections, catheterizations, and dressing changes) which must be provided by trained medical professionals, including nurses and therapists.
Skilled care can be provided at home or in a skilled care facility:
Hospital-Based Skilled Nursing Facilities, also known as "extended care facilities" or "step down units," are departments within hospitals. They provide the highest levels of medical and nursing care, including 24-hour monitoring and intensive rehabilitative therapies. They are intended to follow acute hospital care due to serious illness, injury, or surgery.
Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) are non-hospital based skilled nursing facilities that provide a relatively high level of nursing and other medical care, as well as personal care and assistance, for people whose illnesses or impairments require close monitoring. Around-the-clock nursing is available from licensed practical nurses, with at least one supervising registered nurse on duty at all times.
Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) provide less nursing and other medical care than SNFs. ICFs are for long-term residents with chronic illness or impairment whose conditions are not as acute as those of SNF residents and care is geared toward personal care and assistance. There is always a licensed practical nurse on duty. ICFs generally care for people who need a long recovery period from serious illness, injury or surgery, but who no longer need quite the level of nursing care and high-tech monitoring that a SNF provides. Very few facilities are set up to be ICFs alone; most are part of a SNF or a custodial care facility. Custodial Care is care that does not require specialized training or service.