| Abstract: | Background: Taiwan has entered into an aging society since the end of September 1993. As the population ages, the demand for long-term care services has increased. To protect the residents and enhance the quality of nursing homes, the Department of Health, according to the Nurses' Act, launched an evaluation of the nursing homes, through health care, personnel management, operation management, environmental safety, and daily life care. The results are published on the website as a reference for the consumers. The consumers consider whether the institutions are qualified and , more importantly, whether the patients are well-cared in their health and daily life. Due to the consumers always visit the facilities when choosing a nursing home; this study aims to provide suggestions to the consumers for observing the institutions and choosing a suitable one.Objective: 1.Understanding the general characteristics of nursing homes in Taiwan.2.Exploring the correlation between environmental safety and evaluation in health care of the nursing homes.3.Exploring the correlation between environmental safety and evaluation in daily life care of the nursing homes.Methods:We analyzed the basic information of 351 nursing homes in Taiwan and the data of “Evaluation of Nursing Homes” Project launched by the Department of Health in 2009. The methods include descriptive statistics, Chi-Squares test , and logistic regression analysis, based on SPSS 12.0. Results:1.The institution's size, type, the dependence of the patients, the overall safety and comfort level, and the hygiene of the dining equipment, significantly correlated with the results of health-care evaluation.2.The overall safety and comfort level, the safety and the hygiene of dining equipment, and management of the security facilities significantly correlated to the results of daily-life evaluation.Conclusion: 1.The institutions whose sizes are more than 50 beds ,having a high dependence of the patients, being attached to hospitals, and having qualified overall safety and comfort levels, hygiene of the dining equipment, and the qualification of nursing homes ,have higher Odds Ratio.2.The institutions whose overall safety and comfort level, the hygiene of dining equipment, and management of the security facilities have higher daily-life evaluation Odds Ratio. |
