Evaluation of a patient classification system for community health care

A patient classification system for community health care developed in the Netherlands is described. The system classifies the time nurses devote to the care of patients. Its purpose is to support the nurse in managerial work. The patient care classification system uses three axes to classify the care: the care type, the number of home visits per week and length of service. The patients are scored on these three axes after the first visit to the patient. This system cannot be used to determine staffing needs on a daily basis but is used as an indicator for budgetary and longer term planning purposes. The system was evaluated by 65 nurses on 1000 patients during 3 months. It is concluded that the care type axis provides good information about the activities that have been performed. Another conclusion is that nurses overestimate the number of visits per week to the patients.