The frequency and types of resident relocations in Dutch nursing homes: a nationwide cohort study of electronic health record data.

Purpose: One third of Dutch nursing home residents relocated at least once during length of stay. Roughly 75 percent were individual relocations and the other 25 percent concerned group relocations. The average yearly number of individual relocations was about 3 times as high in the first 4 months after admission compared with later periods.

Methods: We performed an historical cohort study of pseudonymized registration data from a Dutch electronic health record. We selected data from nursing home residents aged 65 years and older who stayed on a ward for physical impairment or dementia and passed away between 2015 and 2019. Our study sample consisted of 26,060 long-stay nursing home residents from 67 nursing homes in the Netherlands. We examined the number of relocations, trends over time, individual versus group relocations and relocation destinations.

Results: We found that approximately one-third of long-stay nursing home residents relocated at least once with an average of 36 relocations per 100 residents per year. Roughly, 75 percent of relocations were individual relocations and 25 percent concerned group relocations. In the first 4 months after admission, the average number of individual relocations per 100 resident per year was about 3 times as often compared to later periods after admission. Most individual relocations were within the same type of care.

Conclusion: A considerable proportion of Dutch long-stay nursing home residents experienced one or more relocations. Relocations for individual reasons occurred mostly in the first months after admission. Further investigation is warranted to explore which factors lead to relocations.