Evaluation of Primary Care Nursing in Long-Term Care

Abstract

A primary care model of delivering nursing attendant care was evaluated using two samples of aides and of residents from a large, urban and a small, rural long-term care facility. Measures of staff morale and attitudes toward primary care, and resident satisfaction with care and attitudes toward primary care were obtained from comparison and experimental group units pre- and postimplementation of the primary care nursing intervention. For both samples, there was a significant group effect on staff attitudes toward primary care: Experimental staff members were significantly more positive (than the comparison staff members) toward primary care following the intervention. At the large urban facility, there was a significant group effect on both resident satisfaction with care and resident attitude toward primary care: Experimental residents were more satisfied and had a more positive attitude after the primary care intervention than did comparison group residents.