Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.
J Clin Nurs. 2011 Dec;20(23-24):3463-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2011.03702.x.
This is a preliminary study to identify older people service needs in Hong Kong from the users' and service providers' perspective.
As the Hong Kong population is ageing rapidly, it is important to identify the needs for care of older people. Although a wide variety of medical and social services have been provided to meet the needs of older people, there has been little evaluation from the users' or service providers' perspective regarding what the needs are and how well current service provisions match their needs. In recent years the importance of patient-centred care has been emphasised, where patient's expectation of care has been given a central role in guiding and improving the provision of health. However few studies have been carried out with respect to services for older people.
To identify the service needs, a focus group study was conducted. Both service providers and older people were interviewed. This preliminary study used a qualitative research method to identify older people's service needs, generating rich information which could be used to inform older people care service development.
Data were collected by conducting eight focus group discussions. The focus group interviews were audio-taped. Interviews were then transcribed and themes were identified.
The study identified several areas for improvement in services for older people, covering adequacy, accessibility and affordability of medical services, coordination of health and social care, quality of long-term care, negative perceptions and training needs. Some themes such as service adequacy and negative staff attitudes occurred in both older people and health professional focus groups. The themes of fast access, continuity of care and smooth transition, affordability, provision of information of available health and social services appear to be universal as these have also been identified in similar studies in other countries.
In addition to other objective outcomes, such as duration of stay in hospital or re-admission rates after hospital discharges, changes in service provisions towards improvement should be evaluated from the users as well as professional care providers' perspectives.
Areas of improvement in service delivery include timely access, continuity, affordability, better coordination of health and social care, quality of care particularly in the long-term residential care setting and healthcare professionals' communication and caring skills and attitude.
从使用者和服务提供者的角度确定香港老年人的服务需求。
随着香港人口老龄化的迅速发展，确定老年人的护理需求非常重要。尽管已经提供了各种各样的医疗和社会服务来满足老年人的需求，但很少从使用者或服务提供者的角度评估需求是什么，以及当前的服务提供与他们的需求匹配程度如何。近年来，以患者为中心的护理的重要性得到了强调，在这种护理中，患者对护理的期望在指导和改善健康护理方面发挥了核心作用。然而，针对老年人服务的研究并不多。
为了确定服务需求，进行了焦点小组研究。对服务提供者和老年人进行了访谈。本初步研究采用定性研究方法来确定老年人的服务需求，收集丰富的信息，以便为老年人护理服务的发展提供信息。
通过进行八次焦点小组讨论收集数据。焦点小组访谈进行了录音。然后将访谈转录并确定主题。
研究确定了老年人服务需要改进的几个方面，涵盖医疗服务的充足性、可及性和可负担性、医疗和社会保健的协调、长期护理的质量、负面看法和培训需求。一些主题，如服务充足性和负面员工态度，出现在老年人和卫生专业人员焦点小组中。快速获得服务、护理连续性和顺利过渡、可负担性、提供有关现有卫生和社会服务的信息等主题似乎是普遍存在的，因为这些主题也在其他国家的类似研究中被确定。
除了其他客观结果（如住院时间或出院后再次入院率）外，还应从使用者和专业护理提供者的角度评估服务提供的变化，以改善服务。
服务提供方面的改进领域包括及时获得服务、连续性、可负担性、更好地协调医疗和社会保健、特别是在长期住宿护理环境中的护理质量以及医疗保健专业人员的沟通和关怀技能和态度。
