Care needs among the dependent population in Spain: an empirical approach

[Case management as a methodology for connecting the health and social care systems in Spain]

Objetivo

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar la evaluación de un proyecto de gestión de casos con pacientes crónicos en Valencia para la integración de la atención social y sanitaria. Este proyecto está vinculado con el «Modelo sociosanitario sostenible».

Emplazamiento

Departamento de Salud 6, Comunidad Valenciana.

Participantes

Pacientes con patologías crónicas de 65 o más años.

Intervenciones

Estudio comparativo con un grupo control y otro de intervención, no aleatorizado ni ciego. La intervención consistió en la creación de un equipo interdisciplinar de gestión de casos, el uso de una cartera común de recursos y su aplicación a una muestra piloto. Duración de la intervención: 6-9 meses.

Mediciones principales

Enfermedades (CIE-9), capacidad funcional, uso de recursos sanitarios y sociales, satisfacción y coste unitario prestación de servicios.

Resultados

Un incremento en el uso combinado de recursos sanitarios y sociales en el grupo de intervención, que incluye centros de día (el 21,8% frente al 9,8% en el de control) en coordinación con los centros de atención primaria (en el 55,4% único recurso sanitario propuesto); una disminución de las consultas médicas en el grupo de intervención (el 43,6% frente al 74,5% en el de control); una mayor satisfacción en los pacientes (el 55,5% frente al 29,4%), y un 4,4% extra de pacientes atendidos, como mínimo, en recursos hospitalarios sin incrementar los costes.

Conclusiones

La gestión de casos, con una cartera común de recursos sanitarios y sociales, mejora la coordinación de recursos, aumenta la satisfacción de los pacientes e incrementa la capacidad de atención de los recursos hospitalarios.

The influence of nursing homes in the functioning of internal medicine services

BACKGROUND

Some hospitals attend to great number of patients who come from nursing homes whose median age, seriousness of illness and comorbidity differ of these patients from those of non-institutionalized patients. This can partly modify and thereby affect some of the parameters used to measure "assistance quality".

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The data related to the demographic, clinical factors, severity criteria and mortality, were studied in patients hospitalized in two Internal Medicine Services during 2005-6 on the basis of whether they arrived from a nursing home or not. The data were obtained from the electronic databases of the two centers.

RESULTS

During the study period, 13,712 patients were hospitalized (7110 in Fundación Hospital Alcorcón (FHA) and 6602 in Hospital Universitario Fuenlabrada (HUF)). A total of 789 (15.3%) patients of FHA arrived from a nursing home in comparison to 132 (2.6%) of those in HUF. Patients arriving from nursing homes were older (84.1 vs 69.8; p<0.05), had a more serious illness (Group Related Diagnostic weight 2.1 vs 1.9; p<0.05), more comorbidity (Charlson Index >0; 75.5% vs 67.3%; p<0.05) and increased mortality (16.8% vs 6.8%; p<0.05) than the non-institutionalized patients, while length of hospital stay were shorter in the institutionalized patients (7.8 vs 8.3; p<0.05). Intrahospital mortality was significantly associated with living in a nursing home (Odds Ratio 1.4 Confidence Interval 95% 1.1-1.8), regardless of age, gender, condition, comorbidity (Charlson Index), and the involved hospital.

DISCUSSION

The number of nursing homes attended by a hospital determined the activity of an Internal Medicine Service. This study indicates that the patients from nursing homes were older, with increased severity and comorbidity of their illness, greater mortality and rehospitalization although, with similar length of stay.

Case management method applied to older adults in the primary care centres in Burjassot (Valencian Region, Spain)

This research determines if the case management for health primary care means changes in: (a) frequency of use of social and health care resources, (b) number of patients visiting a doctor or social worker in the primary care centre, and visits that these professionals receive, (c) number of drugs consumed, (d) urgent hospital admittances which did not need significant intervention and (e) patients' and caregivers' satisfaction towards the social and health care resources received. The data were gathered with a questionnaire elaborated by the Administration and supervised by researchers. One hundred and fifty-two older dependent patients receiving home care in 2004, in a health department of the Valencia Region (Spain) collaborated. Results show: (a) Increase in the use of combined health and social resources in the intervention group; (b) number of patients visiting a practitioner or a social worker is lower in the intervention group, with a significant difference in both cases;

Evaluation of the home help service and its impact on the informal caregiver's burden of dependent elders

AIM

This study looks at the objective and subjective characteristics of home respite service provision and its impact on the informal care burden of dependent elders.

METHOD

A sample of 296 dependent people and their informal caregivers was randomly selected among users and non-users of the Home Help Service (HHS) in an autonomous Spanish region (Comunidad Valenciana). An experimental design was used and a field study was carrying out that collected information on sociodemographic variables of the dependent person and his/her caregiver, HHS characteristics and the assessment of the services delivered by this resource as well as the informal caregivers'burden.

RESULTS

The results show that the services of this resource are very limited, with low cover and frequency, and they do not address the real dependency needs in specific activities of daily living. However, users and caregivers are satisfied with this care and experience a higher quality of life since it was implemented, although the HHS does not alleviate informal caregivers' stress.

CONCLUSION

These data show the need to extend the services delivered by the HHS and the duration of care, address the caregiver's need for psychological care, and look at potentially modifiable variables in the care context when designing prevention and psychosocial intervention programmes to lessen the informal caregiver's burden.

Suitability of the health and social care resources for persons requiring long-term care in Spain: an empirical approach

The objective of this paper is to examine the suitability of specific facilities for dependent persons for meeting users' needs. A total of 1265 users of social and health facilities for dependent persons were interviewed in a study carried out in a typical southern European region with a Mediterranean welfare system: the Valencia Autonomous Region in Spain. Data were obtained on users' socio-demographic profile, health, functional dependence, cognition, social support and housing suitability. Based on these data and the institutional definitions of the specific facilities for dependent persons, the suitability index was drawn up for each facility and suitability was evaluated using discriminant analysis. The results give a high suitability index for most of the facilities (between 0.661 for Units for Home Hospitalisation and 1.000 for Units for Psychiatric Hospitalisation). But a significant percentage of patients (17% in Hospitals for Chronically Ill and Long-stay Patients) could be cared for in different facilities to the ones they actually use.