2002 Volume 12 Pages 65-85
Under the long-term care insurance (LTCI) system, care services offered at hospital beds for long-term care are categorized as “facility services” and each medical institution chooses the type of insurance coverage at units level between “medical insurance” and LTCI. Environment surrounding beds for long-term care is changing drastically and the functions and services of each institution are expected to become more specialized.
In this survey, the present position of the two different types of beds for long-term care in the hospitals surveyed and the future direction of management of the units are confirmed.
The differences of the overall physical conditions, care needs, length of stay, and the physical conditions on admission and discharge are observed between patients at the two types of units.
However, the difference of features of institutions and the specialization of their medical functions and services cannot be clearly seen in this survey.
The results of this survey can be suggestive for choice of appropriate care location and be useful for study on the future direction of long-term care in Japan, including the appropriate division and coordination among beds for long-term care, institutional services and domiciliary services.
