it takes several days. Although this difference does not seem to be large, the provision
of care mostly concerns help and assistance in aspects that are crucial to a person’s life.
Not receiving assistance in fields concerning, e.g., personal hygiene, consumption of
food and drinks, and medication for a few days might, therefore, have a considerable
impact on an elderly client’s health status and quality of life.
Delivery of the care and service components included in the preliminary package starts
as quickly as possible after a key nurse is assigned. However, Figure 5.3b, shows that
each case has its own view on what ‘quickly’ implies. Only in case T does delivery of
care and services start during the house visit, since the start-up nurse has a nursing
task during the first week of care provision. Consequently, in case T the a-priori phase
seamlessly advances into the on-the-job phase.
In the on-the-job phase, an in-depth exploration of the client’s needs and requirements
leads to the adaptation and fine-tuning of the standard components. In this phase, the
client and professional together experience the delivery of care and service parts. With
the information revealed in this phase, each component can be adapted independently
with respect to content, time span, moment and place of delivery, required aiding
devices, materials used, etc. For example, a key nurse described that regarding the
generic component of bathing activities, one client might prefer to take a shower early
in the morning and needs to be completely washed and dressed by the home care nurse
because of severe problems with bending and stretching. Another client might prefer
to wash at the washbasin in the evening and only requires assistance when washing
herself. Furthermore, problems or requirements might arise on-the-job that had not been
104
Figure 5.3b Differences in timing between specific cases
Modular
Care Provision
detected a-priori. Additional needs signaled can involve all aspects of life, including, e.g.
meal services, walking aids or day care. To illustrate, one of the interviewees explained
that when a home care nurse assists an elderly client with his bathing component for
the first time, she might signal that this client has difficulties when getting up from
the toilet or standing in the shower. Housing modifications like handrails, grab bars
or an easy-access bathroom could make it easier and safer to carry out the bathing
activity and these components might, therefore, be added to the package. By adapting
components and adding new components, the care and service package as a whole is
tuned and customized for each client. After a certain period all needs and preferences
of a client will be known and the package can be finalized (only case K has no moment
of finalization). Over time, adjustments in the care and service package will probably be
necessary because of changing client circumstances. The process of package adaptation,
however, is beyond the scope of this paper on package assessment and assembly.
In sum, in the on-the-job specification components included in the package can be
adapted and fine-tuned since the particularities of each elderly client can be taken
into account. The preliminary care and service package is finalized on the spot and
made ready for continuous delivery. To illustrate the above, Figure 5.4 depicts the
subsequent phases for case T.
5.6 Discussion
Based on our empirical work, we elaborate on an essential part of Duray et al.’s (2000)
line of reasoning, i.e. that client involvement early in the production cycle allows for
component adaptation based on client needs, thereby leading to a high degree of
product customization. Conversely, client involvement late in the production cycle
105
M
odular car
e and ser
vic
e pack
ages f
or independen
tly living elder
ly
Chapt
er 5
Figure 5.4 Specification
process case T