Specific Care on the Interface of Mental health and Nursing home “SpeCIMeN”

The project focused on patients suffering from a mental health disorder and also in need of nursing home care (because of dementia and/or physical disorders). They present a particular challenge to LTC wards within both nursing homes (NHs) and mental healthcare institutions (MHs). They often surpass the level of mental healthcare that can be offered in NHs, and, vice versa, the level of physical care that can be offered in MHs. As these patients have a combined need for both mental health care and nursing home care, we refer to them as double care demanding patients (DCD-patients) in this thesis. The aim of this study was threefold: 1. to explore the characteristics and the care needs of DCD-patients; 2. to explore the characteristics and work-related wellbeing of nursing staff caring for DCD-patients; 3. to define the necessary elements for adequate care to DCD-patients, by combining expertise from both psychiatric care and nursing home care and taking into account barriers and facilitators. Several study designs were applied including a systematic literature search, observational cohort studies, a focus group study and a case study