The extent of administrative involvement varies from nursing home to nursing home, but generally speaking their hands on care is very minimal. They generally field complaints from residents, participate in mealtime activities, and help facilitate holiday activities. Administration that is very involved will know and call each resident by name. And my experience is that in researching the proper placement for your loved one, you should definitely visit a multitude of nursing homes. Talk to the residents, and really look for obvious signs of negligence, such as residents who are unclean, have food in teeth and dirty finger nails, or have a strong odor of urine. Big red flags. If the nursing home is well staffed, these problems will be minimal to none. Hope this helps. I am an RN who has functioned in an administrative nursing home role.