title: Personal home care workers' role in hospital: a qualitative study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Unlike in most high-income countries, in Israel personal (social) care of elderly patients in hospitals is provided either by relatives or friends, or, for those patients with live-in assistance at home, by their home care workers. Our aim was to understand the explicit and implicit roles of live-in carers and whether any difficulties occurred.
  
  
  METHODS
  Interviews in the internal medicine unit of Hadassah Hospital with 17 patients, 16 relatives, 20 home care workers and 20 nurses. Data were subjected to categorical content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three major themes emerged: the development of teamwork with relatives and nurses; the varied roles of home care workers including nursing care, emotional care, and monitoring and supervision of the patient; and the conflicts and challenges associated with having a care worker related to their physical presence and the care worker's own social needs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Israel partially addresses its nursing shortage by allowing paid home care workers to take an active role in the care of hospitalized older adults. This can have both a positive and a negative impact on the role and perception of nursing.
authors.affiliation: Professor, Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Israel liatayalon0@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ayalon
authors.affiliation: Geriatric and Health Social Worker, Hadassah Medical Hospital, Hebrew University, Israel.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Halevy-Levin
authors.affiliation: Senior Physician, Internal Medicine Unit, Hadassah Medical Hospital, Hebrew University, Israel.
authors.forename: Zvi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ben-Yizhak
authors.affiliation: Senior Physician, Head of the Geriatrics Unit, Internal Medicine Unit, Hadassah Medical Hospital, Hebrew University, Israel.
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Friedman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D006699:Home Care Services; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Israeli hospitals; care of the elderly; migrant care workers; nursing