Nursing care needs of nursing home patients in large cities do not explain the greater work stress on the staff

: A comparative study has been carried out to determine the influence of the care needs of patients on work pressure of nursing staff in the nursing homes of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Data of nursing home patients, resident at specific dates in nursing homes in the three largest cities have been compared with data from the rest of the Netherlands, altogether more than 40,000 patients at the time. The data came from the Dutch Nursing Home Information System (SIVIS). The differences have been determined in care needs and the changes in care needs in recent years. Nursing home patients in the three largest cities appear to have lower care needs than patients in the rest of the country. The care needs of the patients in the large cities hardly changed from 1986 to 1989. In the rest of the Netherlands a clear increase has occurred in the care needs of somatic and of psychogeriatric patients in the same period. The care needs of the patients in the three largest cities therefore cannot explain a higher work pressure of nursing staff as compared to the situation in nursing homes elsewhere in the Netherlands.