care
the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise care as work directed toward a recipient's needs, assess whether that work is appropriate and sufficient, and identify justified next actions.
Care is the work of taking responsibility for the welfare of a person or other dependent by attending to their needs over time through treatment, personal assistance, supervision, or accompaniment, rather than a one-off technical service or a purely financial transfer.
It can be Record a care need while distinguishing requests, observations, and assumptions.; Connect proposed care activities to intended recipient benefits and applicable boundaries.; Identify gaps between required care and available caregiver capacity.; Compare delivered care with commitments and observed recipient responses.; Propose reassessment, adaptation, or escalation when care is insufficient, unwanted, or burdensome.; Prepare a handover or completion review that preserves unresolved needs..
Distinguishing features
An identifiable recipient receives work intended to address a need; concern or affection alone does not establish that care occurred.
The activity can be connected to a recipient-facing benefit such as comfort, recovery, preservation, or continued functioning; completing a task alone does not establish adequate care.
Care may sustain a condition or prevent deterioration without correcting a defect, distinguishing it from repair understood solely as restoration.
The recipient's response or condition can justify changing the work; compliance with a schedule alone is insufficient to judge its appropriateness.
Care does not itself establish ownership or unrestricted authority over its recipient.
Scope
+ The recipient, their expressed or assessed needs, and the circumstances that make care necessary
+ Care activities, intended benefits, and burdens imposed on the recipient
+ Caregiver responsibilities, capabilities, availability, and dependencies
+ The recipient's preferences, participation, permission, and refusal where applicable
+ Observation, reassessment, handover, and completion of care
- Diseases, diagnoses, and treatment protocols as independently maintained clinical knowledge
- The recipient's complete identity, biography, or asset specification
- Affection, concern, or attachment without accompanying care work
- Employment contracts, professional credentials, and institutional governance in their entirety
- Ownership, guardianship, and legal authority as independently established relationships
Characteristics
- Recipient
- Person, group, organism, or thing receiving care Identifies whose needs and condition determine the relevance of the work.
- Need basis
- Expressed, observed, assessed, inferred, or disputed; multiple values allowed Separates a recipient's request from another party's interpretation.
- Intended care outcome
- Comfort, support, recovery, preservation, prevention of deterioration, or another stated outcome Makes the purpose of an activity assessable without assuming improvement is always possible.
- Care responsibility
- Caregiver or team linked to a specified responsibility and coverage period Makes responsibility gaps and overlapping commitments visible.
- Recipient permission
- Granted, conditional, refused, withdrawn, unknown, or not applicable, with scope recorded Constrains proposed actions and avoids treating previous permission as unlimited.
- Care delivery state
- Proposed, agreed, underway, interrupted, completed, or stopped Distinguishes an intention or commitment from work actually performed.
- Uncovered care interval
- Duration in minutes, hours, or days relative to an explicitly recorded care requirement Exposes periods when a required form of care lacks coverage.
- Observed recipient response
- Improved, stable, worsened, mixed, or unknown relative to a named outcome and observation period Supports reassessment while keeping observation distinct from claims that care caused the change.
Analytical facets
- substance
- activity
- origin
- conceptual
- agency
- inert
- mobility
- not-applicable
- scale
- not-applicable
- affordances
- observable
Also called
+170
Where this came from
oewn:2024 · CC BY 4.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 36 questions.
Recipient and care needs Establishes who or what needs attention and what makes the proposed work care for that recipient.
Care cannot be judged from activity alone; its relevance depends on the recipient and the need being addressed.
Recipient in context
Identifies the recipient and circumstances relevant to attending to them.
Recipient and dependencies
Records the recipient, the context of care, and dependencies that affect their ability to meet the relevant need.
- Who or what receives this care, and is the recipient an individual or a group? definition
- Which relevant needs can the recipient meet independently, and which depend on assistance? boundary
Need and intended benefit
Connects the basis for care to the condition it aims to support.
Grounded care need
Distinguishes an expressed need from an assessed or inferred one and records the intended benefit without assuming agreement.
- Who expressed or identified the need, and what observation or account supports it? provenance
- What would adequate care achieve or preserve for this recipient, and whose judgement defines that outcome? definition
- Which parts of the need or intended benefit remain uncertain or disputed? boundary
Recipient voice and care boundaries Records how the recipient participates and what constrains intervention.
Providing care can affect autonomy, dignity, and access to the recipient; beneficial intent does not settle what is permissible.
Preferences and participation
Captures how the recipient communicates what care is acceptable and participates in its delivery.
Recipient account
Preserves expressed preferences and distinguishes them from interpretations made on the recipient's behalf.
- How does the recipient communicate preferences, discomfort, or refusal concerning this care? definition
- Which preferences were expressed directly, and which were interpreted by someone else? provenance
- What support would enable the recipient to participate in the care or decisions about it? action
Permission and limits
Connects each proposed intervention to the permission or other applicable basis for undertaking it.
Bounded intervention
Records the scope and limits of permission, including uncertainty when the recipient cannot provide it or permission is not applicable.
- What permission or other established basis applies to this activity, and where is it recorded? provenance
- What limits, refusals, or changed circumstances restrict further care? boundary
- What must be clarified before an activity with unresolved permission can proceed? action
Care work and caregiver capacity Connects actual care activities to the people, capabilities, and resources needed to perform them.
A care commitment is credible only when the required work has capable and available providers.
Attention and intervention
Describes what caregivers undertake, including attentive presence when it serves an identified need.
Purposeful care activity
Records proposed and performed work, its intended benefit, and any timing requirement.
- What attention, assistance, treatment, or upkeep is undertaken, and which need does it address? definition
- What was actually provided, when, and for how long or at what frequency? measurement
- Which timing requirements have an established basis, and which are provisional? provenance
Capability and sustainable provision
Examines whether caregivers can deliver the required work over the relevant period.
Caregiver capacity fit
Records assigned responsibilities, relevant capability, and constraints that could make care unreliable.
- Who has accepted responsibility for each activity, and what supports their capability to perform it? provenance
- Where do available time, resources, or caregiver capacity fall short of the recorded care requirement? measurement
- What support, reassignment, or additional provision is needed to sustain care? action
Recipient response and adjustment Assesses how care is experienced and whether it remains appropriate as the recipient's condition changes.
Task completion does not establish that care helped, was tolerable, or should continue unchanged.
Benefits and burdens
Records recipient responses and the costs or discomfort associated with receiving care.
Observed care response
Keeps reported experience and observed condition separate from causal conclusions about the care.
- What changed or remained stable relative to the intended benefit, over what period? measurement
- What discomfort, disruption, or other burden accompanied the care, and who reported or observed it? provenance
- What evidence, if any, supports attributing the observed response to this care? provenance
Reassessment and adaptation
Links new information to review of the need, activity, or provider arrangement.
Care revision triggers
Records conditions that call for review and identifies who can decide or undertake a change.
- Which changes in need, response, preference, or caregiver capacity require reassessment? boundary
- Who should review the care, and what evidence do they need to decide whether to continue, adapt, or stop it? action
Care continuity and ending Tracks coverage, transfers of responsibility, and the conditions under which care can end.
A completed activity or departing caregiver can leave a recipient with continuing needs and no accepted provision.
Coverage and handover
Makes transitions between caregivers and periods without required care visible.
Accepted care continuity
Records whether a receiving caregiver has accepted responsibility and has the information needed to continue care.
- Who covers the next required period of care, and have they accepted that responsibility? provenance
- What unmet needs, preferences, recent responses, and pending activities must accompany the handover? action
- Is any interval of required care uncovered, and how long is it? measurement
Completion and withdrawal
Distinguishes meeting a care need from stopping provision for another reason.
Justified care ending
Records why care ends and what happens to needs that remain.
- Is care ending because the need is met, responsibility transfers, permission changes, or provision cannot continue? definition
- What needs remain, and what follow-up or alternative provision has been arranged? action
- What evidence supports marking the care complete rather than interrupted or stopped? provenance
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Informal unpaid care (family, friends, neighbours)
- Clinical health care (diagnosis, treatment, nursing)
- Social and personal care (assistance with daily living and household tasks)
- Long-term care (ongoing support for chronic illness, disability, or frailty)
- Childcare and early childhood care
- Palliative and end-of-life care
- Self-care (the person's own attending to health and daily needs)
- Veterinary and animal care
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q31207 - Health care - the clinical subset, not the whole activity of attending.
- Wikidata - Q553079 - Caregiver - the person who does care, not the work itself.
- MeSH - D010817 - Patient Care.
- MeSH - D002135 - Caregivers.
- ISCO-08 - 5311 / 5321 / 5322 - Child care workers; health care assistants; home-based personal care workers (ILO occupation codes for paid care labour).
- NACE Rev. 2 - 86 / 87 / 88 - Human health activities; residential care activities; social work activities without accommodation.
- NAICS - 623 / 624 - Nursing and residential care facilities; social assistance.
- ICNP (International Council of Nurses) - nursing-phenomenon terms for care acts and outcomes - Compositional terminology for nursing care, not a single code for 'care' as such.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Care Act 2014 - UK Parliament (England): adult care and support duties, eligibility, unpaid-carer assessment.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 and Regulated Activities Regulations - Care Quality Commission (England): registration and inspection of care providers.
- Nursing Home Reform Act (OBRA 1987) - United States Congress: federal quality and residents' rights standards for nursing facilities.
- CMS Conditions of Participation - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (USA): conditions under which providers may receive Medicare/Medicaid payment.
- Long-Term Care Insurance Act (Kaigo Hoken Hō) - Japan: public long-term care insurance since 2000.
- Aged Care Act (1997, replaced by the Aged Care Act 2024) - Australian Parliament: funding and regulation of aged care.
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) - United Nations: independent living and support as rights, not charity.
- ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) - International Labour Organization: labour standards covering much paid household care.
- ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses - International Council of Nurses: professional duties in nursing care.
- ISO 7101:2023 Healthcare organization management - ISO: management-system requirements for quality in healthcare organisations.
- ICF (2001) - World Health Organization: classification used to describe care need and assistance, not a regulatory code.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- A relative helps an older parent wash, dress, eat, and take medicines at home, often for years and without a contract.
- Hospital and clinic staff assess, treat, monitor, and nurse patients through an episode of illness.
- A home-care worker visits under a local-authority or insurance package to assist with bathing, meals, and household tasks.
- A nursing home or residential facility provides 24-hour personal and nursing care to people who cannot live safely alone.
- Nurseries and childminders provide childcare so parents can work.
- Hospice and palliative teams manage pain and accompany dying people and their families.
- Veterinarians and animal keepers treat and tend companion, farm, and zoo animals.
- Labour-force surveys, time-use surveys, and national accounts record paid care occupations and estimate unpaid care hours for policy and budgeting.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Informal care intensity - a few hours to 20 for light help; 20-50+ for intensive care of a highly dependent person - hours per week
- Nurse-to-patient ratio (acute wards) - about 1:4 to 1:8 on general medical/surgical wards; near 1:1 in intensive care - patients per nurse
- Long-term care public expenditure - roughly 0.5-3.5 of GDP across OECD countries with mature systems - percent of GDP
- Basic activity-of-daily-living need - 0-6 limited domains on the Katz ADL set (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, continence, feeding) - count of ADL domains
- Residential long-term care fee (high-income countries) - on the order of several hundred to about 1,500+ per week in England-type markets, highly local - currency per week
- Care episode duration - hours to days for acute care; months to decades for long-term and informal care - days
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Neglect or abuse of the person being cared for, including in institutions and private homes.
- Missed care from unsafe staffing: delayed medicines, falls, pressure ulcers, unnoticed deterioration.
- Carer burnout, musculoskeletal injury, poverty and lost employment, especially among unpaid women.
- Unmet need (care poverty): people who need help with daily living do not receive it.
- Iatrogenic harm and overtreatment when attending becomes uncritical medicalisation.
- Fragmentation between health and social care, especially at hospital discharge.
- Inappropriate institutionalisation when home or community support would have been sufficient.
- Infection outbreaks in congregate care settings.
- Moral distress when workers cannot give the care they judge necessary.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- England and much of the UK split 'health care' (NHS, free at the point of use) from 'social care' (local authorities, means-tested); 'carer' in statute usually means an unpaid family carer.
- United States policy talks of long-term services and supports (LTSS); Medicare covers skilled and post-acute care, not ordinary custodial care, so Medicaid is the main public payer for long-term care.
- Australia treats 'aged care' as a distinct federally regulated sector.
- Japan runs universal public long-term care insurance (Kaigo Hoken) since 2000, still alongside strong family-care expectations.
- Germany funds Pflege through social long-term care insurance, and ordinary language splits Pflege (hands-on nursing care), Betreuung (supervision/support) and Sorge (concern/care as an ethical relation).
- Nordic systems provide a large share of care as universal public services; many lower-income countries leave almost all long-term attending to unpaid household labour.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Cure - Cure aims to resolve a pathology; care continues when cure is unavailable, unwanted, or not the point, and includes attending that never aimed at cure.
- Treatment - A treatment is a bounded clinical intervention; care is the broader, often continuous attending that may include treatments among other acts.
- Social support - Support can be money, information, or encouragement without bodily attendance or responsibility for daily welfare; care is the work of attending.
- Welfare (social security) - Welfare systems transfer income and entitlements; they may fund care but are not themselves the labour of attending.
- Service delivery - A specified transactional service can be completed against a contract; care is typically relational, open-ended, and judged by the dependent's ongoing condition.
- Guardianship or legal custody - A legal status conferring decision-making authority; it can exist without any actual attending, and attending can exist without that status.
- Therapy - Therapy is protocol-led intervention aimed at change (function, behaviour, insight); care may include therapy but also covers maintenance, comfort, and accompaniment.
- Hospitality - Hospitality receives a guest; the guest is not a dependent whose safety and daily functioning the host is obligated to maintain.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of care this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work - Treats care as labour (paid and unpaid); documents the split between health, social, childcare and domestic care work and how it is counted in employment and time-use statistics.
- Care Act 2014 (c. 23) - English statutory frame for adult care and support: wellbeing duty, needs eligibility, and recognition of unpaid carers as people with their own assessment rights.
- International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) - Classifies functioning, activity limitation and environmental support; the usual clinical-policy vocabulary for why care is needed and what assistance is doing.
- Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care - Standard care-ethics account of care as a practice with phases (caring about, taking care of, care-giving, care-receiving), used across nursing, social policy and political theory.
- World report on ageing and health - WHO account of long-term care as a system of activities that maintain function and dignity in later life, distinct from acute curative services.
- Health at a Glance (recurring statistical report) - Comparable OECD figures on long-term care recipients, informal carers, staffing and public expenditure as a share of GDP.
What the second pass must settle
- Does an existing Vercy world model already cover care at this registry granularity, requiring reuse rather than a separate publication?
- Where should this registry draw the boundary between care of things and neighbouring concepts such as maintenance, repair, and preservation?
- Should collective recipients be represented directly, and how should conflicting needs within a cared-for group be expressed?
- Which domain-specific extensions are needed to assess permission, representation, and recipient preferences across people, animals, plants, and inanimate things?
- What evidence and recipient-specific criteria are sufficient to judge adequacy of care when improvement is impossible, responses are ambiguous, or accounts conflict?