PURPOSE To determine if and how the outcome quality from a client perspective is related to process characteristics and structure of Regional Individual Needs Assessment Agencies (RIOs) regulating access to long-term care services in The Netherlands. THEORY Because of decentralised responsibilities, ultimo 1999 85 RIOs were set up. RIOs differ in their structural and process characteristics. ...

The needs assessment process is indeed complex in the social service context. Whereas most contexts can start with a presumption of "no need," the social service context frequently must start with an assumption of "need met-->change." In addition, underlying values--the individual's, the assessor's, the society's--all play a part in the judgment process. The assumption that the involvement of a...

INTRODUCTION Public reporting of quality in long-term care is advocated on the basis of allowing providers to improve their performance by benchmarking and supporting users to choose the best providers. Both mechanisms are intended to drive improvements in quality. However, there is relatively scarce comparative research on the experiences and impact of public reporting on quality in long-term ...

C Bayer1,2,3, H Bernard1, R Prager4, W Rabsch4, P Hiller5, B Malorny5, B Pfefferkorn6, C Frank1, A de Jong7, I Friesema8, K Stark1, B M Rosner ([email protected])1 1. Robert Koch Institute, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Berlin, Germany 2. Postgraduate Training for Applied Epidemiology (PAE, German Field Epidemiology Training Programme), Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany 3. E...

BACKGROUND Most older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are frail and have complex care needs. Holistic understanding of residents' health status is key to providing good care. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is a valid assessment method which aims to embrace complexity. Here we aimed to study a CGA that has been modified for use in long-term care (the LTC-CGA) and to i...

Problematic resident behaviors may escalate in long-term care facilities (LTCs). If nurse aides (NAs) are not nearby, the nearest staff to intervene may be non-direct care workers (NDCWs), who have little or no dementia training. This pilot research tested Internet dementia-training program, designed for NAs, on NDCWs in a LTC setting. Sixty-eight NDCWs participated, filling out two baseline su...

BACKGROUND The interRAI Acute Care instrument is a multidimensional geriatric assessment system intended to determine a hospitalized older persons' medical, psychosocial and functional capacity and needs. Its objective is to develop an overall plan for treatment and long-term follow-up based on a common set of standardized items that can be used in various care settings. A Belgian web-based sof...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of antibiotic use in long-term care facilities (LTCF) is high and in many cases it may not be in accordance with local guidelines. It is important to review interventions that aim to improve the quality of antibiotic prescribing in this setting. OBJECTIVE The objective of this systematic review was to collect and interpret the results of studies of interventions to i...