為了解臺北市主公私立醫院慢性期病人佔用急性病床的盛行情形及對長期照護服務的需要與態度，特於1994年3-5月間普查全臺北市48家去私立院內住院21天以上病人，經醫師評估發現，不須積極醫療服務而可出院之慢性期病人佔總住院人數的8.1%，佔總床數的6.8%。再以日常生活活動功能及護理服務項目評估慢性期病人，結果發現各項功能障礙率達六成以上，而對每項技術性護理服務的需求亦高達六成以上，可知該等病人對長期照護需求之切。該類病人或家屬對護理之家、日間照護、居家護理等三類長期照護了解不多，但經解釋之後其接受意願高達三成到五成。尤其在有保險給付的條件下，其接受意願更提高為六成。以上結果顯示提供長期照護服務是降低慢性期病人佔用急性醫院病床的可行方法，是減少醫療資源浪費應考慮的策略。

In order to understand the prevalence of non-acute long-stay hospital patients and their need for and attitudes toward long-term care services, a hospital census of 48 gengeal hospitals was conducted in Taipei City in 1994. After physicians evaluation of all patients hospitalized for more than 21 days, we found that 6.8% of hospital beds were long-term occupied by non-acute patients and 8.1% of hospital patients were non-acute long-stay patients.
Functional assessment showed that the need for long-term care is around 60%. More than 60% of these patients were in need of skilled nursing care. Nursing home, adult day care, and home health care services were not known by these patients. However, after interviewers' explanation, the willingness of these patients to use these services was around 30-50%. The acceptance of these services was even enhanced to 60% if the services were covered by insurance benefits. The study results indicated that the development of long-term care services is a good strategy to reduce the inappropriate use of acute hospital beds.