14. The patient classification for long-term care developed by four research groups in the United States

Delineation of long-term care problems and measurement of the effectiveness of efforts to deal with them requires a reliable method of describing observations made in the field. Recognizing this need, four groups of investigators have collaborated to produce the Patient Classification for Long-Term Care. Criteria for design of the Classification and its uses are described with specific reference to monitoring the quality of care, to policy making for long-term care, to research, and to education and training. Areas requiring further work are adaptation to care in noninstitutional settings and to children with long-term problems, and development of detailed psychosocial descriptors. Practical application of a classification scheme should not, however, wait upon the solution of all existing problems; a built-in mechanism of revision, analogous to that of the ICD, would make it possible to get on with the job of patient care, improving our methods of observation as we go, on the basis of experience.