Loes Bierma*, Nederlandse Patiënten Consumenten Federatie, Utrecht, Netherlands Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Health information on the web: Supply and Demand Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Panel Presentation Building: MECC Room: 0.9 Athens Date: 2010-11-29 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Last modified: 2010-11-17

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Background:
Health consumer of the future make their own choices by using (online) networks. Patient-to-patient information will more then ever influence their choices. People can inform each other on ZorgkaartNederland.nl and ConsumentendeZorg.nl, two online platforms where care recipients can review their caregivers and care organizations. Still there are certain groups of people that are hard to reach and won’t find their way to those online platforms. This project aimed to collect personal experiences of elderly people, living in nursing homes or care residences, and to share these experiences on the internet. This information can either be used by care-institutions to match the care they offer to the care demanded by their elderly. It can also be used by other health consumers when searching for a nursing either for themselves or for their relatives. Because personal experiences are subjective, volume is essential to form an accurate representation of the nursing’s. Over 48.000 personal experiences were collected in this research.
Objectives:
Participants were (mostly) elderly people, living in nursing homes or care residences. However, also their family, neighbours, carers, volunteers and caregivers were able to report their personal experiences.
Method:
80 nursing’s participate in the project by opening up their doors for our interviewers. Four teams of nine interviewers talked with the elderly and their relatives inside the institutions. They also conducted interviews with people in public places (libraries, supermarkets, fairs). This way we collected personal experiences about all nursing’s in the Netherlands. The interviews with the institutionally living elderly took about 45 minutes per person. The questionnaire was semi-structural with the ability to self-determine the sequence, which contributed to a conversation instead of a plain ‘question-answer’ questionnaire. The research question was: what is good in the institution you live in and what can be improved? There were also questions about treatment, activities, waiting and care plan. The institution received a reporting with the findings and all personal experiences were placed on the internet. Family, neighbours, carers, volunteers and caregivers could also report their personal experiences via internet, phone and by filling out a form (which was put in a brochure).
Results:
Almost 10.000 personal experiences of elderly were collected. Also 38.000 relatives reported their personal experience. The personal experiences of the elderly are rich in information but the quality of the content of the relatives divers mostly due to the different ways for reporting. The personal experiences of the elderly and a selection of 1000 personal experiences of relatives were also explored. It was striking that the quantitative figures showed that elderly were very pleased with their nursing. Whereas the qualitative data showed several bottlenecks.
Conclusion:
This project is the biggest research on the realities en preferences of elderly people living in Dutch care residences. Because people were asked about their personal experiences, and this is written down verbatim, the information is detailed, gives nuances, has quite an impact on the readers and is based on what the elderly think is important. The quality and quantity of the information, which is published on the internet, makes this innovative project a one of a kind.