Board editorial: Care homes as a setting for research and policy development

摘要

In many countries around the world, there are increasingly more care home than acute hospital beds. In the United Kingdom (UK) the figure is three times higher (Laing, 2015). That is why this focus edition, examining the work of care homes, is of particular importance to nursing and makes the need for high quality research compelling. Gone are the days when older people admitted themselves for companionship. In care homes, both those with and without on-site nursing, residents are considerably frailer on admission than 10 years ago, and often have significant palliative care needs from advanced, progressive, incurable disease(s) (Kinley et al., 2014). Four inter-related themes have emerged from international contributions from Austria, Australia, England, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Spain.