Facility and Regional Variations in Admission and Discharge Patterns Within Step-Up Intermediate Care: A Cross-Sectional Study of Municipal Inpatient Acute Care Services in Norway.

Background: Norwegian Municipal Inpatient Acute Care (MIPAC) services were established as part of the 2012 Coordination Reform. The intention was to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions by redirecting and maintaining less urgent patients at the primary care level, which provides inpatient acute healthcare services closer to patients' home. However, the role MIPAC plays in the patient trajectory and how trajectories vary across different units and settings is less clear.

Needs assessment in long-term care: expression of national principles for priority setting in service allocation.

Background: Long-term care services for older adults are characterised by increasing needs and scarce resources. Political strategies have led to the reorganisation of long-term care services, with an increased focus on "ageing in place" and efficient use of resources. There is currently limited research on the processes by which resource allocation decisions are made by service allocators of long-term care services for older adults.

Service Allocators' Experiences of Ethical Dilemmas and Strategies in Long-Term Care: A Qualitative Study.

The provision of long-term care services for older adults is characterised by increasing needs and scarce resources, leading to ethical dilemmas. This qualitative study explored the ethical dilemmas experienced by healthcare professionals when allocating long-term care services to older adults and the strategies used to handle ethical dilemmas. Data from semi-structured individual interviews, focus group interviews, and observations of service allocators assessing needs and assigning long-term care services to older adults were analysed using content analysis.

Modes and models of care delivery in municipal long-term care services: a cross-sectional study from Norway.

Background: Numerous forces drive the evolution and need for transformation of long-term care services. Decision-makers across the globe are searching for models to redesign long-term care to become more responsive to changing health and care needs. Yet, knowledge of different care models unfolding in the long-term care service landscape is limited.

The influence of individual and municipality characteristics on allocation of long-term care services: a register-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Variation in service allocation between municipalities may arise as a result of prioritisation. Both individual and societal characteristics determine service allocation, but previous literature has often investigated these factors separately. The present study aims to map variation in allocation of long-term care services and investigate the extent to which service allocation is associated with characteristics related to the individual care recipient and the municipality.

Quality of Municipal Long-Term Care in Different Models of Care: A Cross-Sectional Study From Norway.

The quality of care remains a critical concern for health systems around the globe, especially in an era of unprecedented financial challenges and rising demands. Previous research indicates large variation in several indicators of quality in the long-term care setting, highlighting the need for further investigation into the factors contributing to such disparities. As different ways of delivering long-term care services likely affect quality of care, the objectives of our study is to investigate (1) variation in structure, process and outcome quality between municipalities, and (2) to what extent variation in quality is associated with municipal models of care and structural characteristics.

Social and Gender Differences in Informal Caregiving for Sick, Disabled, or Elderly Persons: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Informal caregivers are in increasing demand to provide care for sick, disabled, and elderly persons in the years to come, also in the Nordic welfare states. Informal caregivers can provide different types of care, such as personal care, supervision, and practical help, and previous research has shown that women take on a heavier care burden than men. However, structural differences in care tasks and caregiver burden in the Norwegian population is an under-researched area of study.

Nurses' assessments of horizontal collaboration in municipal health and care services for older adults: A cross-sectional study.

Interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration is considered key to achieving high-quality care and positive patient outcomes, but there is limited research into how nurses working in nursing homes and home care services perceive collaboration with other municipal health and care service providers and how their assessments of collaboration vary with individual characteristics and context. The objective of this study was to map variation in nurses' assessments of horizontal collaboration with core care services for older adults, specifically nursing homes, home care services, general practitioners, the allocation office and physio- and occupational therapy services. The study draws on findings from a nationwide cross-sectional survey on posthospital care for older adults, conducted among nurses working in nursing homes and home care services in Norway (N = 3717).

Towards specialised and differentiated long-term care services: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Numerous forces drive the evolution and need for transformation of long-term care services. During the previous decade, primary health care has assumed increased responsibility for developing and providing care services, but there is still limited knowledge about how European care service systems are evolving to address new tasks and patients. Based on data from Norwegian municipalities, this study aims to (1) describe the availability of specialised services in Norwegian nursing homes and home care services and (2) analyse whether structural factors, like population size and/or centrality, are associated with the availability of specialised services in nursing homes and home care.

The Development of a New Care Service Landscape in Norway.

Demographic changes, as well as the transfer of medical and caring tasks from specialist to primary care in Norwegian municipalities, have led to changes in care service delivery. So far, we have limited knowledge of how this affects the design of the care services. Based on a semi-structured questionnaire survey, this article presents the development of a new care service landscape in Norway, where municipalities increasingly set up specialized care services for different patient groups and their care needs.

A nation-wide cross-sectional study of variations in homecare nurses' assessments of informational continuity - the importance of horizontal collaboration and municipal context.

Background: Numerous studies have revealed challenges associated with ensuring informational continuity in municipal care services for older adults with comprehensive, prolonged and complex care needs. Most research is qualitative and on the micro-level. The aim of the current study is to map variation in homecare nurses' assessments of available information in the municipalities' documentation system and investigate the extent to which these assessments are associated with perceived quality of collaborations and with municipal context.

Volunteers and Informal Caregivers' Contributions and Collaboration with Formal Caregivers in Norwegian Long-term Care.

The article illuminates and discusses the realism of policy-makers' goals to increase involvement of volunteers and informal caregivers in long-term care services in Norway. Drawing on multiple data sources, the article investigates how commonplace volunteering and informal care are in long-term care, and it explores challenges experienced in collaboration between formal caregivers and and . The results show that only 4.