EVALUATION OF A PATIENT CLASSIFICATION-SYSTEM FOR COMMUNITY-HEALTH CARE

A patient classification system for community health care developed in the Netherlands is described. The system classifies the time nurses d evote to the care of patients. Its purpose is to support the nurse in managerial work. The patient care classification system uses three axe s to classify the care: the care type, the number of home visits per w eek and length of service. The patients are scored on these three axes after the first visit to the patient. This system cannot be used to d etermine staffing needs on a daily basis but is used as an indicator f or budgetary and longer term planning purposes. The system was evaluat ed by 65 nurses on 1000 patients during 3 months. It ij concluded that the care type axis provides good information about the activities tha t have been performed. Another conclusion is that nurses overestimate the number of visits per week to the patients.