[Development of a qualification mix model (QMM) for inpatient long-term care as a basis for personnel assessment instruments]

Abstract

The current staffing levels for nursing care in long-term care are too low. There are no empirically verified figures with regard to the exact quantitative and qualitative need for additional staff. In order to develop a scientifically based method that is able to determine the number and qualifications of the nursing staff required for nursing care based on a facility-specific resident structure, a qualification mix model (QMM) was needed that indicates the minimum level of qualification available for the professional provision of nursing interventions. Such a model has not yet existed. Due to a lack of normative or empirically based assignment of interventions and qualification levels, a theoretical approach was chosen for the conception of the QMM using existing qualification frameworks, competence models, legal stipulations, the new assessment tool and nursing studies. By differentiating the complexity of work requirements, a total of 10 intervention classes-some with sub-classes-were formed, each of which was linked to one of five qualification levels. The resulting QMM enables qualifications to be assigned to care-relevant interventions as a normative basis of measuring staffing requirements, and also provides orientation for a more competence-oriented distribution of work and responsibility in inpatient long-term care. Since the model is structurally conservative and based on current (i.e. at the time of development) legal stipulations, it is a minimum standard.

Keywords: Care dependency; Competence; Kompetenz; Long-term care; Personalausstattung; Pflegebedürftigkeit; Qualification mix model; Qualifikationsmixmodell; Staffing; Stationäre Langzeitpflege.