Nursing home placement in Norway - Characteristics of older people assigned to placement
Sammanfattning
To determine the characteristics of older people assigned to nursing home placement and to
illuminate the factors emphasised in the assignments, thirty-two home health care leaders in a
Norwegian municipality completed a questionnaire regarding their assessment of the levels of
functioning of the assigned individuals. These assessments were compared with assessments of
individuals who had been placed on a waiting list to receive an assignment and of residents who had
already been admitted to a nursing home. The individuals who had received assignments had higher
rates of cognitive impairment, memory disturbances, disorientation and psychiatric symptoms
compared with the individuals awaiting placement. The individuals with assignments had better
motor function and a greater ability to accomplish daily activities without assistance than those in the
other two groups. The physical workloads were the lowest for the carers of older people assigned to
placement. Individuals without cognitive impairment and with low/worse motor function had to wait
longer for nursing home placement than individuals with cognitive impairment. Older people with
low/worse motor function required more assistance with their daily activities from informal carers.
The implications for nursing are to recognise the physical workloads of carers and the necessity of
offering them respite and support.