[Resident assessment instrument in Switzerland. History, results and experiences from the application]

The resident assessment instrument (RAI) as a standardized assessment has become established as the gold standard in homes for the elderly and resident nursing homes in Switzerland. The RAI is an important tool with respect to the clarification of needs in long-term outpatient and inpatient nursing care in compliance with the requirements of the Health Insurance Act. The information collated in the initial assessment, the minimum data set (MDS), can be reliably utilized for the nursing process and measurement of quality. The key to success in long-term inpatient nursing can be attributed to the generalized financial solution of resource utilization groups (RUG), which is generated directly from the assessment. Due to standardized training and documentation and in the inpatient area, a uniform electronic data processing solution, a vast amount of data from the last 15 years of experience are available also for scientific use.