Abstract: Objective To study the policy tools in 412 policy documents of elderly care workers issued by national pilot cities with the integration of medical and elderly care services, to explore the characteristics and shortcomings of the current policy system for elderly care workers, and to provide reference for the subsequent improvement of policies such as the career development of elderly care workers. Methods With quantitative analysis, we analyzed 412 documents related to elderly care workers issued by local governments from 2009 to 2022 in pilot cities of with the integration of medical and elderly care services. A two-dimensional framework from the perspective of the type of policy tool and the core factors of nursing team construction was established for the policy documents regarding the integration of medical and nursing care services. Results In the X dimension, demand-oriented policy tools accounted for 10.9%, supply-oriented policy tools 66.0%, and environmental policy tools 23.1%. In the Y dimension, qualification and recruitment accounted for 5.3%, training 48.6%, post management 11.4%, personnel evaluation 10.4%, and rights and treatment 24.3%. Conclusion From the dimension of policy tool, the proportion of supply-oriented policy tool is too high, but that of demand-oriented policy tool is low, and the inner structure of each policy tool is unreasonable. From the dimension of construction element, construction content tends to be diversified, but it is still not comprehensive. Optimized internal structure, enriched content, and balanced utilization of policy tools are conducive to improving the team development of elderly care workers.

Key words: elderly care worker, policy tool, integration of medical and elderly care service