A Survey of Basic Daily Living Assistance in Dependency Units during the Morning First Period at Nursing Homes with a Healthcare Dysfunction

Abstract

(1) Background: It is important to evaluate the attention in the basic activities of daily life in the early hours of the day to evaluate the quality of care and to be able to increase the attention of human resources in case of observing an increase in dependency. The purpose was to improve healthcare quality in nursing homes, correctly identifying the work burden and incidents of daily planning, and completing the work plan by nursing assistant staffing. (2) Methods: The sample is based on 70 elderly people. The analysis used an observational trial every workday over a six-month period. An ad hoc sheet was prepared to collect socio-demographic data on each participant, and the Barthel Index was applied to the study subjects. A daily record of three basic activities of daily living (BADL), such as dressing, bathing, and eating, was kept. (3) Results: Our results showed a significant evolution in both units, but it was in the psychogeriatric unit in which higher compliance with the schedule and higher maintained stability was reached. (4) Conclusions: The use of some BADL registers helped us address situations of imbalance in terms of user assistance and establish an interdisciplinary communication with the nursing team as a way of achieving better organization and compliance with care protocols.

Keywords

• care record
• basic activities of daily living
• psychological and functional dependence
• elderly
• quality of care