Ranked a Five-Star Nursing Facility by Medicare

The Transitional Care Unit (TCU) is an important part of the medical center.  The TCU is a skilled nursing facility that assists patients as they transition from a stay in the hospital to home or another level of care.

The goal of the TCU is to optimize the patient's quality of life and to help the patient transition out of the hospital. The TCU is configured differently than the main hospital.  For example, there is a gym, a separate dinning room and group and individual activities are offered to meet the patient's needs to socialize with others and their families. TCU staff encourages patients to gain as much independence as possible. Patients dress in their own clothes and eat in the dinning room.  These steps are an important part of the rehabilitation process. 

The TCU is a short-term, post-acute care unit.  Patients may go directly home from TCU or transition again to another level of care for continuing support, such as an acute rehabilitation unit, a lower level skill unit, a custodial care situation or hospice care.  The team assesses each patient and sets goals for discharge upon arrival into the unit.

Transitional Care Team

The team in the TCU consists of many professionals:  nurses, therapists, social workers, activities specialists, nurse assistants, nutrition specialists and others who will work with patients to devise a plan while in the TCU and for the next step in their continuing care.  Each week the TCU team holds meetings to discuss each patient's progress and determines the plan for the patient's discharge.

The TCU team meets with patients and their physicians routinely either as a group for a family conference or as individuals to keep patients and caregivers up to date on the patients progress and goals for each day or week of their stay.

What's Different about the Transitional Care Unit?

As patients transition from an acute hospital unit to the TCU, the level of medical and nursing care can be managed at a skilled-nursing and skilled-rehabilitation facility.  Watch the video below to learn more about the Torrance Memorial Transitional Care Unit.