Data quality, concepts and methodology: Definitions

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Accumulated paid hours. Total hours paid for all full-time, part-time and casual employees who have had salaries or wages paid to them by the facility. Hours covering paid holiday time and other paid leave are included for all categories of personnel.

Approved beds. The number of beds licensed or approved by provincial or municipal authorities.

Beds staffed and in operation. The number of beds that are either occupied or available for new resident admissions on the last day of the reference period in operating residential care facilities.

Canada, provinces and territories."Canada" includes data for all provinces and territories.

The heading "Provinces" includes data for all provinces and excludes the territories. Province-specific data are also shown separately.

The heading "Territories" includes data for all territories. Data from the territories were combined to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act and are not shown separately.

Expenditures. The costs of operating and maintaining the facility, but excludes capital costs. It includes salaries and wages and any other costs for direct-care services, general services as well as other expenses including interest, depreciation and taxes, but excluding income tax.

Facilities. Facilities are defined by the principal characteristic of the predominant group of residents of the facility; for example, aged, persons with mental disorders and other characteristics. Although the survey collects data on more detailed principal characteristic categories, these were collapsed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act.

1. Homes for the aged. Nursing homes, homes for the aged and other facilities providing services and care for the aged. Not included are homes for senior citizens or lodges where no care is provided.
2. Facilities for persons with mental disorders. Facilities for persons with developmental delays, psychiatric disability, alcohol or drug problems and for emotionally-disturbed children.
3. Other residential care facilities. Facilities for persons with physical disabilities, for delinquents, for transients, and facilities which do not fit in any of the other categories. Up until 1990/1991, transition homes for women and juvenile victims of violence were included in this category.

Full-time equivalent. The total number of paid hours divided by 1,950 hours which corresponds to a 37.5 hour work week.

Movement of residents. Admissions, discharges and deaths during the fiscal year.

Occupancy rate. A calculation based on the number of staffed beds that were occupied during the reporting period. Also referred to as "percentage occupancy". (Total days of care multiplied by 100) divided by (beds staffed multiplied by 365 or 366 for leap year).

Operating facilities. All facilities which fall under the definition of a residential care facility and were in operation at the end of the reference period. Data for non-reporting operating facilities are imputed on the basis of rated-bed capacity, geographical region and type of service provided.

Ownership. The person, group of persons, agency or corporate body who is the registered owner according to the deed or statute.

1. Proprietary. Facility owned by an individual. It also applies to private organizations and/or corporations operating for a profit.
2. Religious. Facility owned and operated by a religious organization on a non-profit basis.
3. Lay. Facility owned and operated by a voluntary lay body on a non-profit basis. This category excludes facilities maintained by industrial or commercial corporations (see proprietary).
4. Municipal. Facility owned and operated by a city, county, municipality or other municipal government, or by another body which is empowered to levy taxes or to otherwise operate like a municipality.
5. Provincial or territorial. Facility owned by a branch, division, agency or department of a provincial or territorial government, or owned and operated by a regional governance structure responsible for the continuum of health services for a defined geographic region within a province.
6. Federal. Facility operated by a department or agency of the Government of Canada; for example, Veterans' Affairs, Health Canada or National Defence.
7. Other. Facility which does not fit into any of the categories otherwise described. All facilities in Quebec fall into this category as their ownership cannot be further defined.

Reporting facilities. Those facilities that reported to the survey for the reference period.

Resident day. The period of service to a resident between the census taking hours on two successive days.

Residential care facilities. They include all residential facilities in Canada with four or more beds providing assistance such as counselling, custodial, supervisory, personal, basic nursing and/or full nursing care to at least one resident. Excluded are those facilities providing active medical treatment (general and allied special hospitals).

Size of a facility. The size of a facility is defined by its approved-bed complement.