Work in residential dementia care Differences between a nursing specialist, nursing assistant and activity aide

Background In dementia care, nursing staff with different qualifications work. To maintain the work ability of nursing staff, it is essential that their work duties match their qualifications. At present, however, there is insufficient knowledge of how nursing staff with different qualifications are involved in dementia care. Objective The aim was to compare the workload and work content of a nursing specialist, an activity aide, and a nursing assistant in residential dementia care. Method The activities of a nursing specialist, nursing assistant, and an activity aide (each n = 1) were observed openly and structured in one early and one late shift. The observation was distributed across 2 (activity aide) or 3 days (nursing specialist and assistant). The workload was determined by the absolute frequency of activities. For the work content, the activities were coded in a qualitative content analysis. Results The nursing specialist performed 123 +/- 62 activities per hour, the nursing assistant 77 +/- 31 activities per hour and the activity aide 75 +/- 21 activities per hour. The nursing assistant (61%) and nursing specialist (48%) mainly performed care activities. The activity aide showed a high variation in work content and performed 34% care activities, 20% organizational activities and 23% each for housekeeping and leisure activities. Conclusion The workload and work content of the nursing staff differ depending on their qualifications. Overall, nursing staff perform few activities that go beyond basic care. To relieve the nursing staff, the use of technical aids for taking over suitable tasks, such as care robots, is conceivable.