5. Basic data requirements for geriatric institutions and services

Long-term care institutions are being patterned inappropriately on the medical model. They have evolved as a patchwork of other types of institutions and as yet have no clear value system of their own. The characteristics of the populations served, the reasons for admissions, their psychological and social deprivations, and the fact that institutional care is essentially a living arrangement point to a greater emphasis on enrichment services, i.e., those going beyond survival, subsistence, and medical maintenance. Data sets for long-term care should therefore be oriented to a social/health model. Assessment methods for evaluating social behaviors that are indicators of services needed are underdeveloped. Orderly methods of evaluating the individual's social support system also require development to aid in determining the type of care needed (whether in the community or in institutions). In addition, data about future generations of older people could provide guidelines to future needs. Though social change is determined by the values of policy makers and the community, data are essential to the formulation of objectives and directions within that framework.