The status quo of geriatrics ward and nursing personnel allocation in medical institutions in Western China

27^th World Congress on Nursing Care

May 20-21, 2019 Osaka, Japan

Chunlan Bai and Xiuying Hu

West China Medical School of Sichuan University, China

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Aim: The study aims to explore the status quo of geriatrics ward and nursing personnel allocation in medical institutions in Western China and to provide reference to construction planning of geriatrics wards.

Method: Nursing managers from medical institutions at different levels in 11 provinces autonomous regions and municipalities in Western China between February and March 2018 were selected by convenient sampling. A cross-sectional study was conducted with the self-designed general information questionnaire for geriatrics ward construction.

Result: Totally 327 questionnaires were distributed and 289 valid questionnaires were collected with a valid rate of 88.38%. Totally 142 of the 289 medical institutions (49.13%) set up geriatrics wards. The number of Class III Grade A hospitals accounted for 54.9% and the number of general hospitals accounted for 88.7%. The proportion of geriatrics beds accounted for 7.1% of the total and the bed-nurse ratio in geriatrics wards was 1:0.48. 5.7% (235/4 102) of nurses in geriatrics wards had senior titles, 23.5% (966/4 102) had intermediate titles and 70.7% (2 901/4 102) had junior titles. Totally 0.8% (32/4 102) of them had a master's or doctoral degree, 49.2% (2 016/4 102) had a bachelor's degree and 50.0% (2 052/4 102) had diploma from junior colleges. 6.9% (92/1 340) of nurses in specialized geriatrics wards had senior titles, 27.8% (372/1 340) had intermediate titles and 65.4% (876/1 340) had junior titles. Totally 0.8% (11/1 340) of them had a master's or doctoral degree, 51.1% (685/1 340) had a bachelor's degree and 48.1% (644/1 340) had diploma from junior colleges.

Conclusion: The geriatrics ward construction and nursing personnel allocation in Western China have basically taken shape. However, they are imbalanced in different provinces cities or medical institutions at different levels indicating that Western China needs to pay attention to the construction of geriatrics wards in primary medical institutions enhance the training for specialized geriatrics nurses and ensure the nursing quality for elderly patients.