This research investigated how support workers’ utilization in community rehabilitation teams for older people relates to patient and team characteristics. Conducted from January to September 2009, the study involved 462 staff and 1913 patients, collecting data on patient dependency, health status (using tools like Therapy Outcome Measures, EQ-5D, and Levels of Care), and staff activity.
The findings revealed that support workers provided up to 36% of direct patient care and had shorter contact times per patient compared to qualified professionals. Less-dependent and female patients received a higher proportion of support worker care, with a 4.9% increase in support worker time for every 0.1 unit increase in EQ-5D score and an additional 5.1% of total contact time for females compared to males. Older patients also received more support worker care, and other factors like referral source, care intensity, living arrangements, and team composition influenced support worker input.
These results suggest that patient and team factors significantly affect support worker utilization, highlighting the potential benefits of targeted deployment based on patient characteristics to optimize qualified practitioners’ time for more complex cases.
Reference: Moran A, Nancarrow S, Bradburn M and Enderby P. (2012) Health and Social Care in the Community. 20(5): 537-49 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2524.2012.01065.x