Compiling a caseload index for mental health case management

Abstract

Caseload is a key issue in service planning and staff management. Factors that have the potential to contribute to caseload can be readily identified. However, there is likely to be disagreement as to the weight assigned to any factor and the approach taken may depend on the purpose and context of the caseload calculation. A great deal more research is required to provide an empirical basis for algorithms used in caseload calculation.

Community mental health nursing: Keeping pace with care delivery?

“…Burnard et al (2000) link high caseloads with reactive rather than proactive care while McMurray and Cheater (2004) argue that high caseloads prevent the development of more innovative modes of service delivery. The optimal staffing level for standard community teams is often identified as being between 20 and 30 clients (King et al 2004) with 8-12 clients being viewed as optimal for case managers in assertive care teams (Smith & Newton 2007). In contrast, recent studies King et al 2000) identify 15-20 clients as being ideal for standard community teams.…”

“…Workload also depends on the maturity of the caseload. King et al (2004) argue that a case is often more intensive initially because of building a relationship and assessing the client. Once this phase is completed, the central tasks of case management are relationship maintenance and review and revision of care plans, reducing the intensity of case management.…”

“…Gibb et al (2003) note that rural community mental health nurses cannot cap caseloads because of a lack of alternate services. Rural and remote workers also face challenges arising from the degree of terrain to be covered and the desire to prevent admission of clients to psychiatric facilities away from their community (Gibb et al 2003;King et al 2004). Gibb et al (2003) argue that large caseloads in conjunction with the desire to maintain people within their own communities lead to management of more acutely unwell clients in the community by rural mental health nurses.…”

Structural Equation Modeling on Case Management Outcomes and Factors Influencing Outcomes in the Community-dwelling Vulnerable Elders

“…사례관리 성과 는 서비스를 제공하는 사례관리자의 성별, 연령, 자격 (Shin, 2009), 역량 (June, Lee, & Yoon, 2009;King, Meadows, & Le Bas, 2004), 직무만 족도 (Kim, Jung, Jung, & Jin, 2001;Rosati, Marren, Davin, & Morgan, 2009), 대상자와의 관계형성 정도 (Björkman & Hansson, 2001), 교육 및 훈련 정도(Austin) 등을 포함하는 사례관리자의 특성이 가장 큰 영향을 미칠 수 있다고 하였다 (King et al). 대상자 특성의 경우, 소득 수준, 교육수준 (Shin), 건강상태 (Nakatani & Shimanouchi, 2004), 유 병기간 (Shin), 사회적 지지체계 (Björkman & Hansson; Shin) 등을 관 련 요인으로 제시하고 있다.…”

Community mental health nurses, caseloads, and practices: A literature review

“…Determining caseloads using ratios of clients per case manager might be overly simplistic. Seven factors have been identified that could be considered when developing caseload indices: contact frequency, response difficulty, intervention type, competence/seniority of the case manager, caseload maturity, location of clients, and roles other than case management (King et al 2004). Although the inclusion of some or all of these factors in determining caseloads makes intuitive sense, there are difficulties associated with using each of these factors in practice, and little evidence quantifying the extent to which they affect the workloads of case managers.…”