title: Prediction of care burden of patients undergoing haemodialysis: development of a measuring tool.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ageing of the population and new options for therapy have led to an increase in the number of patients undergoing dialysis. Rising costs in health care and new financial structures impose funding constraints on dialysis departments and force the departments to deploy nurses more efficiently. Therefore, predicting the nursing time spent on the care of patients is important.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Development of a classification tool to predict the burden of nursing care of patients undergoing dialysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  242 patients on dialysis in 12 centres.
  
  
  METHODS
  The time spent on nursing care within predefined areas, including patient independence, vascular access, psychosocial support, dialysis complexity, communication and specific nursing actions, was measured by observers. Average times and their standard deviations (SD) were calculated. Variation of patient characteristics was analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average care time required for the four routine investigated domains, namely independence, vascular access, psychosocial support and dialysis complexity, was 59.23 (SD = 24.30) minutes per treatment per patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows that it is possible to predict the burden of nursing care of patients undergoing dialysis by means of a classification model.
authors.affiliation: Dialysis Centre Midden Nederland, Meander Medical Centre, Amersfoort, Harderwijk, Zeewolde, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ria
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Kleijn
authors.affiliation: Dialysis Centre Midden Nederland, Meander Medical Centre, Amersfoort, Harderwijk, Zeewolde, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.affiliation: iBMG-EUR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uyl-de Groot
authors.affiliation: Meander Academy, Meander Medical Centre, Amersfoort, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pieternel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pasker-de Jong
authors.affiliation: Department Nefrologie, VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Piet
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ter Wee
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000451:nursing*; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009426:Netherlands; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000451:nursing* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012985:Software Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D016526:Workload / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Burden of care; Care needs; Classification tool; Haemodialysis