Diversified “Caring Bank” for  Disabled Older Adults

Based on the Long-term Care Insurance System

Hui-Ling Li, PhD, School of Nursing, Medical College of Soochow University; Lu Lin, PhD, Ya-Ling Wang, PhD (student), Chun-Hui Li, MSN, Yin Wu, MSN, Li Tian, PhD, Hong-Yan Meng, MSN, Yan-Ming Wu, MSN (student), Heng-Mei Cui, MSN (student), Fei Ma, MSN (student), Xi-Yu Yang, MSN (student); Jie Fan, BSN, Jiuling Senior Home & Nursing Home of Suzhou; Hong-Ying Pan, MSN, the Health Committee of Suzhou; Bei He, BSM, Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Suzhou; Rui Sun, MSN, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

At present, the serious shortage of professional caregivers for the disabled old adults is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in China. Based on our previous research on the long-term care evaluation criteria and home care service procedures for the disabled older adults, we aim at establishing a diversified “caring bank”, which innovates the existing policies through constructing effective training mechanisms for full-time health care workers and continuous incentive measures for part-time volunteers. In this way, medical staff, social workers, young elderly and college students can be recruited into the “caring bank” team. We aim to not only develop online training courses, incentive virtual currencies and an e-management platform, but also smooth the circulation mechanisms among different elements of the “caring bank”. Thus, we can provide scientific evidence for our government to establish caring policies for the disabled older adults.