Assessment of care problems in Romania: feasibility and exploration

The objective of this study was to study the feasibility of a recently developed instrument, LPZ-International, which assesses care problems in health care, and to describe the prevalence of care problems in Romanian health care institutions. Large differences exist in care services in Europe. Data on quality of care are absent or incomplete in Central-Eastern European countries. These countries, including Romania, have faced dramatic socioeconomic changes, which led to negative changes in quality of care.

Cross-sectional study.

Hospital wards, mental care institutions, and nursing homes.

Nine health care institutions and admitted 394 patients.

LPZ-International was introduced in 9 health care institutions in Romania. Assessed care problems included pressure ulcers, urinary and fecal incontinence, malnutrition, falls, and physical restraints. The data were collected between November 2013 and March 2014. Two health care professionals completed the questionnaire by hand at the patient's site.

Six of the 9 health care institutions and 90% of the patients participated, which indicates the feasibility of LPZ-International, as did the completeness of the questionnaire. The data showed a high consistency and only a few were missing. The most frequent care problem was urinary and fecal incontinence, especially in the nursing home. Pressure ulcers and malnutrition were less frequent care problems in Romanian patients. Physical restraints were frequently applied in the nursing home and geriatrics and oncology wards.

LPZ-International is a feasible instrument to assess care problems. The differences between wards and countries in the prevalence of care problems indicate differences in quality of care and the need for high-quality, comparative research.