Skip to main content

Table 1 Overview of the variables measured at each level

From: Factors associated with homecare coordination and quality of care: a research protocol for a national multi-center cross-sectional study

Topic

Level

Domain

Variable

Structure quality

Macro

Workforce availability

Recruitment situation for nursing and care staff

Regulations

Reimbursement regulations (health insurance, client co-payments, residual financing and methods of financing)

Requirements for and content of an operating license

Requirements for and content of a service agreement

Requirements for reimbursement

Geographic characteristic

Catchment area (rural, suburban, urban)

Agency’s service area (population size, numbers of physicians, pharmacies and hospitals)

Meso

Service provision

Number of full-time equivalent posts

Total number of clients and hours of care provided in 2020

Range of service (e.g., nursing care, domestic tasks, meal service, specialized care)

Availability of services (e.g., only by day, day and night, on the weekend)

Financing

Profit status (non-profit, for-profit)

Percentage of financial contributions from different contributors (e.g., health insurance, client, canton/municipalities)

Obligation to supply or service agreement with municipalities and cantons

Workforce

Numbers of full-time equivalent positions differentiated according to educational background

Turnover rate

Staffing and skill mix (percentage of RNs and number of visits conducted by RNs within the last 50 visits)

Work environment

Leadership

Perceived staffing

Teamwork

Workload

Overtime

Predictability

Role clarity

Role conflicts

Social support

Sense of community

Client characteristics

Age

Gender

Living situation (e.g., alone / with partner / with children)

Type of services used (nursing care, domestic services or both)

Service intervals (daily / weekly / monthly)

Services covered by health insurance

Place of care (e.g., apartment, house)

Minutes of professional care per visit

Prior hospitalizations

Care needs (e.g., regular / palliative / psychiatric)

Employee characteristics

Age

Gender

Employment percentage

Experience in their profession

Experience in their current homecare agency

Job / position

Country of education

Educational background

Process quality

Meso

Resources and time allocation

Organization of the last seven working days (e.g., number of nurses, number of visits, travel times, amount and type of services, time for coordinative and administrative work)

Intra- and/ or interprofessional case discussions and/or team meetings

Communication channels/technologies in place

Planning according to a reference person system

Number of cases for which each nurse is responsible

Financial tasks

Requirements for reimbursement

Conflicts with health insurance companies and municipalities pertaining to the financing of services

Experienced cost pressure

Time and costs not billable to health insurance

Planning or realization of cost saving measures.

Workforce recruitment and training

Presence of nurses with case responsibilities / case managers / care managers

Provision of care worker training (e.g., regarding service availability, interprofessional care coordination)

Presence of standards, checklists and guidelines for selected procedures (e.g., medication management, wound therapy, emergency situations)

Clear task/role descriptions

Process of care

Presence of interprofessional care goals

Evaluation and adaption of care and treatment plans

Coordination activities

Communication and information exchange

Communication channels used

Accountability, predictability, common perspective

Familiarity with the healthcare system

Communication between providers and clients (client perspective)

Extent of coordinator role of homecare nurses (client perspective)

Coordination through homecare agency (client perspective)

Micro

Coordination

Alignment of work within the care team

Alignment of client care with nominated providers

Care coordination gaps (from employee and client perspective)

Overall rating of coordination (from client and relative perspective)

Role clarity and coordination between settings (from client perspective)

Outcome quality

Micro

Quality of care

Rating of care provided by the agency (from employee, client and relative perspective)

Health care service use

  1. RN registered nurse