Self-assessment of health condition among patients in long-term nursing home care

Purpose: To determine the health condition self-assessment and the possibility to improve physical functioning of patients in long-term nursing-home care. Materials and Methods: InterRAI-HC (Residential Assessment Instrument – Home Care) questionnaire was used to assess health condition and healthcare needs of a patient's in home care. A total of 100 consecutive patients who were newly admitted to long-term nursing-home care within NFZ (National Health Fund) contract in 2009-2010 took part in the study. Results: Patients most frequently assessed their health condition as poor (73.5%), only 3% ranked their health as good or fair, and self-assessment of health condition changed significantly in the range of age (p=0.017). Comparative analysis seems to indicate that the respondent more frequently assessed their health condition as good or fair in the periodic examination (6.0%) as compared to the initial examination (2.4%). Significant changes (p<0.001) were observed among the initial and the periodic examination the respondents more frequently assessed their health condition as good or fairer than as poor. In the periodic examination, more patients positively assessed the possibility of the improvement than in the initial examination (18.1% vs. 15.7%; p<0.001). Conclusions: Most patients under the long-term nursing-home care negatively ranked their own health condition. Long-term nursing-home care may have a beneficial effect on the emotional sphere of patients – more positive self-assessment tendency was observed after 90 days of care. It seems that qualifying patients with less advanced dependence in physical daily life activities to long-term nursing-home care could improve subjective assessment of health condition and increase the possibility to ameliorate physical functioning.