vårdtillfällen

The term väldtillfälle, Swedish for a distinct moment or opportunity for nursing care, denotes a single, identifiable care action performed within a patient’s care plan. Each vårdtillfälle is a discrete event such as medication administration, feeding, wound dressing, hygiene assistance, mobilisation or patient education. The concept is used to structure and record the daily nursing workload and to assess care quality on a granular level.

In Swedish healthcare, vårdtillfällen are routinely documented in electronic health records. The record of each event includes the actor (nurse or assistant), the type of intervention, the time, and relevant clinical observations. This documentation supports care continuity, facilitates hand‑over between staff, and provides data for auditing staffing ratios, compliance with clinical guidelines, and resource allocation.

Regulatory bodies such as the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare encourage the use of vårdtillfällen to foster transparency in care delivery. The national quality database captures aggregated counts of different vårdtillfälle categories to benchmark performance across municipalities and institutions. The data help identify areas where additional training or resources are needed and inform policy decisions about staffing and workflow optimisation.

Clinical practice reviews demonstrate that a systematic accounting of vårdtillfällen improves communication among interdisciplinary teams and clarifies accountability for specific interventions. It also creates a framework for evaluating patient safety events, as each intervention can be traced back to its occurrence and any associated complications.

Overall, vårdtillfällen provide a structured language for describing and measuring nursing actions, aligning individual clinical practice with broader quality, safety, and organisational goals in Swedish healthcare.