Perceived and observed quality of long-term care for residents - Does functional ability account?

BACKGROUND: Measuring quality in long-term residential care involves challenges concerning both the measurement method and the impaired functional ability of many older people. Ensuring quality in care is even more important for people with functional impairments, as this is a vulnerable group who may be unable to report poor quality of care for themselves. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse how perceived and observed assessments of the quality of care varied according to the residents' functional ability. DESIGN: The data (n = 278) used in the analyses included residents', family members' and staff assessments of perceived and observed quality of care combined with the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) scales measuring the same residents' functional abilities (physical, psychological, cognitive and social). Observations were included in the data if all four assessment types (by residents, family members, staff and the RAI) were available. The dimensions of quality of care emerging from the factor analysis were used. METHODS: Linear regression was used to explore the association between resident's functional abilities and assessed quality of care. RESULTS: Higher level of depression symptoms and higher level of dependency in activities of daily living (ADL) were significantly associated with lower level of perceived and observed quality of care. By contrast, the level of residents' cognitive functioning was not significantly associated with any quality dimensions. The social aspect was the only dimension of functional ability on which better functional ability indicated better quality of care, although differences between respondent groups were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: These analyses emphasize the importance of taking residents' functional ability into account when collecting information on and interpreting the results of perceived and observed quality of care reported separately by residents, family members and staff. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The information obtained can inform care professionals of how dimensions of residents' functional impairments are associated with perceived and observed quality of care and the quality of older people's care can thereby be improved.

Staffing adequacy, supervisory support and quality of care in long-term care settings: staff perceptions.

AIM: This paper is a report of a study to explore relationships between perceived care quality, self-assessed professional skills, and the perceptions of the quality-related factors. BACKGROUND: The work in long-term care is more demanding than in the past. The quality of care is strongly related to the well-being and job satisfaction of staff. Those emerge in part through a perception of resources allocated to caring and also through a perception of the quality achieved. METHOD: Data were collected in Finland in 2002 using a questionnaire sent to the nursing staff working in 112 wards in 40 long-term care institutions monitoring their care with the Resident Assessment Instrument System. Institutions were invited to participate the survey. The response rate was 70.2% (n = 1262). The respondents represented 3.8% of nursing personnel working in long-term care institutions. FINDINGS: Staff members who perceived staffing levels as inadequate and supervisory support as insufficient had lower perceptions of their own professional skills and the quality of care. Perceptions of empowering support behaviour were more strongly associated to self-assessed skills and to perceived care quality than perceptions of skills-oriented support activities. Staff members with short professional training, older staff members and staff members with long work experience in the unit had lower perceptions of their professional skills than other groups. CONCLUSION: The perception of adequate staffing and of sufficient supervisory support, especially empowering support increases the probability of perceiving the care quality as good. If supervisors concern themselves with staff members' perceptions, they can better identify the staffing needs and also the support needs of personnel.

Consistency of quality assessments in long-term care by the clients, family members and named nurses.

Combining assessments by the clients, their family members and named nurses of the quality of long-term care leads to a more comprehensive picture of the quality of the service. Clients should be the primary source of information, but particularly when they are not able to express their opinion, other sources of assessment are needed. This study describes and compares the consistency of quality assessments of long-term institutional care for the elderly made by the client (n = 312), his/her family member (n = 312) and the named nurse (n = 312). Data were gathered in 2002 from service houses, nursing homes and health centres. The consistency of the assessments made by the different groups of respondents was measured by frequency distributions, the weighted kappa coefficient and exact agreement. Frequency distributions differed significantly between the respondent groups in almost every item. Family members were more critical in their assessments than the other two groups. The consistency of assessments was highest with regard to the items 'contact with significant others' and 'medication'. In general the consistency of assessments, measured by weighted kappa, was rather low, but it was fair for 'clothing' (clients/family members) and 'privacy' (clients/named nurses and family members/named nurses). The occurrence of the option 'not applicable' to certain items was quite high, but varied somewhat between the three respondent groups. The results of this study support the viewpoint that comprehensive information gathering from family members and named nurses is useful, but they should not replace clients' assessments.