Care glossary
All content is checked by medical journalists.There are many confusing terms when it comes to care. Often two words mean very similar things, such as short-term care and preventive care. The glossary gives an overview of the most common expressions and their meanings - in alphabetical order from A to Z.
A.
»Activating care
Activating care is a must for all forms of care - in the hospital, nursing home or at home on an outpatient basis. The point is to care for the person in need of care according to their abilities. He is only supported where he absolutely needs help and learns to overcome or compensate for some deficits.
In doing so, he should not be overwhelmed, but should do enough to develop as much freedom and independence from the caregiver as possible. This increases self-confidence and motivates him for all other therapies and everyday steps. This help for self-help is, however, significantly more time-consuming than compensatory care, in which everything is relieved of the sick person.
»Retirement home, retirement home, nursing home
There are basically three different types of homes:
• Retirement home: The residents live relatively independently in small apartments. But there is the possibility of eating meals in community with others.
• Old people's home: rooms or small apartments are available, but housekeeping such as cleaning or cooking is taken away from the residents. Nursing care is also offered.
• Nursing home: The residents live in single or multi-bed rooms, in which there is often space for their own furniture. Comprehensive nursing and domestic care is guaranteed.
In most inpatient care facilities for the elderly today, a combination of the traditional types of homes for the elderly, old people's homes and nursing homes can be found under one roof.
" Ambulant care
This form of care is also called home care. It has the advantage that the person in need of care can continue to live at home. Outpatient care services visit the needy at home and provide the previously agreed care services. The person in need of care must, however, be independent enough to be able to look after himself between visits by the care service. If the person in need of care is at risk in phases of being alone, inpatient care in the nursing home is required.
B.
»Treatment care
Treatment care goes beyond basic care measures. It includes medical activities that are delegated to nurses / nurses and serve to alleviate complaints or illnesses and prevent them from worsening. This includes, for example, changing bandages, measuring blood pressure and blood sugar, administering medication (such as insulin injections) and treating an artificial anus. The individual elements of treatment care must be expressly prescribed by the attending physician.
“Visiting service
Advice centers can arrange a visiting service on request. He supports family caregivers if they have to go outside for a few hours and do not want to leave the person in need of care alone: For example, the visitors chat with the people in need of care, go for a walk with them, help them with their shopping or read to them. Most of the visitors are laypeople who have completed a training course.
"Maintenance
People in need of care who are cared for at home are entitled to additional care services. These include, for example, care groups for people with dementia, groups of helpers to relieve family carers on an hourly basis, day care in small groups or individual care by recognized helpers.
People in need of care in full and part-time inpatient facilities are also entitled to additional care and activation that goes beyond the care required depending on the need for care. The long-term care insurance or the private insurance company bears the costs for this.
" Assisted living
The basic idea of assisted living is that everyone lives in their own four walls that are suitable for senior citizens. If necessary, he can use services that are available in the house or in the immediate vicinity (e.g. in the neighboring nursing home) (e.g. outpatient care services or foot care). Assisted living is available, for example, in the form of apartments for the elderly or in multi-generation houses. The form of organization, type and scope of the assistance offered differ.
»Guardianship law
The care law regulates the concerns of people who need legal support (care). This can be disabled or demented people, for example. The executive body is the care court - it appoints a carer for the patient, on the one hand a relative or an independent professional carer.
»Care assistants: Care assistants can be employed in homes for people who need special care. The nursing care funds finance them.
D.
»Dementia care
Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia require special care and attention. Additional training and care courses are offered not only for geriatric carers, but also for relatives. They are designed to help them respond better to the specific needs of people with dementia. Activating care and all measures that help the person with dementia gain a fixed daily structure are particularly important in dementia care.
“Demography
Demography means population science. It analyzes and describes population structures and developments. For example, it also measures the age distribution in a society.
E.
“Replacement care
Substitute care is another term for preventive care (see there).
F.
»Case manager: There is a legal right to individual and comprehensive care advice (case management) from the health insurance company. So-called case managers provide information on benefit entitlements and financial aid from the health insurers.
G
»Basic care
Basic care includes nursing support for everyday and vital things such as food intake, personal hygiene, elimination processes, dressing or going to bed. This does not include household services (such as cooking or washing) and the implementation of medical prescriptions (such as the administration of medication).
H
" Domestic supply
Shopping, washing clothes, vacuuming and tidying up are not nursing services. Nevertheless, they are an essential part of the home care of a person in need of care. For example, they are offered by Mobile Social Services (MSD).
»Aids
According to the Social Security Code, aids are items that the insured are entitled to in order to ensure the success of a sick treatment, to prevent impending disabilities or to compensate for an existing disability. These include, for example, visual, hearing and walking aids, wheelchairs, compression stockings and incontinence aids.
“Hospice
A hospice is a facility in which terminally ill people are accompanied in their last phase of life. The dying person receives comprehensive care and pastoral care. There are outpatient and inpatient hospice associations as well as their own children's hospices.
K
“Hospital avoidance care
The doctor can prescribe home nursing care as hospital avoidance care if treatment of a patient in hospital would be necessary but not feasible - for example because the patient refuses inpatient treatment for understandable reasons. In addition, hospital avoidance care can be prescribed to replace or shorten a hospital stay.
Hospital avoidance care includes the necessary treatment and basic care as well as domestic care. You are entitled to this for up to four weeks per illness (an extension is possible in exceptional cases).
»Short-term care
Sometimes people in need of care who are otherwise cared for at home are temporarily dependent on inpatient care - for example due to a crisis situation at home or after a hospital stay. Then they can take advantage of short-term care, i.e. temporary accommodation in a fully inpatient home.
The short-term care benefits are available to all those in need of care in care levels 2 to 5 in the same amount (up to 1,612 euros per year, for up to eight weeks per calendar year). People in need of care with care level 1 can use the relief amount (125 euros per month) to take advantage of short-term care benefits. The funds for preventive care that have not yet been used in the current calendar year can also be used for short-term care services.
M.
“MDK
The Medical Service of the Health Insurance Funds (MDK) is the socio-medical advisory and assessment service of the statutory health and long-term care insurance. He checks the need for care of those with statutory health insurance when they submit an application and then determines the level of care. Medicproof takes on this task for those with private long-term care insurance.
The MDK also controls compliance with quality standards in the various care facilities.
»Multi-generation houses
Multi-generation houses are the modern variant of the village fountain. They offer people of different ages a fixed meeting point. We talk to each other and benefit from the respective skills of the other: This is where supply and demand for household-related services meet, for example hourly childcare by seniors or bulk purchases by younger people for older neighbors - young and old help each other. Multi-generation houses are open to everyone - regardless of age or origin.
N
" Night care
Night care, together with day care, is one of the semi-inpatient forms of care. During the day, the relatives care for the person in need of care themselves at home. At night he is looked after in a nursing home. Partial inpatient care also takes care of the necessary transport of a person in need of care from their home to the home and back.
P.
»Living will
A living will contains your instructions to the doctor in the event that you can no longer make a decision yourself. You can decide which medical treatments you want and which you reject. A living will is binding for the doctor if it is formally correct.
»Care documentation
Whether in the nursing home or at home for outpatient care - all individual nursing steps must be fully documented. This includes the measures of basic and treatment care, administered medication and an entry on the current state of health of the person in need of care.
»Care levels
Each person in need of care is divided into one of five legally stipulated degrees of care, depending on their individual impairments and abilities. These care levels replace the previous three care levels. The assessment and classification into a level of care is carried out by the medical service of the health insurance for those with statutory health insurance, and by Medicproof for those with private health insurance. The level of benefits from the long-term care insurance is graded according to these five levels. One differentiates:
- Care level 1 - minor impairments
- Care level 2 - significant impairment of independence or skills
- Care level 3 - severe impairment of independence or skills
- Care level 4 - most severe impairments of independence or abilities
- Care level 5 - most severe impairments of independence or abilities with special demands on nursing care
An objection can be lodged with the long-term care insurance against the allocation of a certain degree of care.
“Nursing courses
If you want to care for a relative or volunteer to look after people in need of care, you can take part in a free care course, which is paid for by your care insurance (the care insurance is obliged to offer such free courses). In these courses you will learn, for example, correct oral care or the use of aids. In certain cases, counseling and training can also take place in the home environment of the person in need of care.
»Maintenance contract
The care contract is concluded between the person in need of care and the outpatient care service. It includes all agreed services that the nursing service should provide. The contribution from health and long-term care insurance should also be noted in it. Whenever there is a change in the care situation, the care contract must also be adjusted.
S.
»Senior residence
Home law basically distinguishes three different types of home: old people's home, old people's home and nursing home. Terms such as retirement home, retirement home, residential home, residential park or retirement home are often used synonymously, but are not precisely defined.
»Senior shared apartments
Shared apartments (WGs) offer seniors the opportunity to lead an independent life in old age and to be with other people. In the event of illness and care, the roommates stand for one another or engage external carers (care shared accommodation). For many seniors, the shared flat is therefore an alternative to the old people's home.
" Inpatient care
In contrast to outpatient or home care, the person in need of care is cared for in a nursing home or a short-term care unit.
T
" Day care
Day care, together with night care, is one of the day care forms. Those in need of care are cared for in a nursing home or day care center during the day. You will not only receive meals and nursing care there - physical and mental activation is also important. The visitors are given a daily structure without which they would be able to dismantle more quickly at home.
These facilities are suitable, for example, for family carers who work part-time.
»Partial inpatient care
Partial inpatient care means that part of the care is provided on an outpatient basis by relatives and the other part in an inpatient care facility. The caring family members are relieved for part of the day. The best-known examples are day and night care.
V
»Prevention care
If the relatives caring for outpatients become ill themselves, are planning a vacation or a cure, a substitute outpatient nurse can step in. Since the main caregivers are temporarily unable to attend, this is called preventive care. The long-term care insurance covers the costs of preventive care for a maximum of six weeks per calendar year and if the person in need of care is classified at least in care level 2. Another requirement: the caregiver must have cared for the person in need of care for at least six months at home before they are unable to attend.
»Power of attorney
With a power of attorney, you authorize a person of your choice to make decisions on your behalf. You can give this person power of attorney for all or only for certain areas of responsibility. The authorized representative thus becomes the representative of your will.
W.
“Wohnstift
Home law basically distinguishes between three different types of home: old people's home, old people's home and nursing home. Terms such as retirement home, retirement home, residential home, residential park or retirement home are often used synonymously, but are not precisely defined.
»Apartment adaptation
The term apartment adaptation is understood to mean renovation measures in one's own home that serve to adapt the living environment to the special needs of the person in need of care. Above all, safety should be increased by eliminating possible sources of danger such as slippery floors or trip thresholds (fall prevention). The long-term care insurance fund can grant a subsidy for the renovation work on request.
Tags: diet womenshealth symptoms
