Comparison of Utilized Resource Volumes by Grade of Seniors in Long-Term Care Facilities

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the time of care services provided by nurses, nursing assistants, care workers, physical therapists, and social workers during a 24-hour-period and the volume of resource utilization for residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities.Methods: We measured the providers' service time supplied to 3,295 residents in 32 LTC facilities. The utilization of resources each service facility provided was analyzed considering the services’ difficulty levels and providers’ wages.Results: The higher the long-term care grade, the longer the provider's service time and the greater the resource utilization. This phenomenon did not appear in the cognitive assistant grader. The service hours provided for the cognitive assistant graders were longer than those in grades 4 and 5, and longer than in long-term care eligibility points about the classification system. Compared to the long-term care eligibility points, the used resource volumes of excretion support, managing behavioral symptoms, and indirect services increased in all grades but, the used resource volumes of nursing treatment time decreased.Conclusion: It is necessary to discuss measures to raise the grade in the cognitive assistance grader with mild dementia. Additional research on the cause of the decrease in nursing treatment time for residents in LTC facilities and measures to satisfy nursing needs is necessary.