This study describes patients' status following home care nursing discharge, and explores the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics, medical conditions and nursing needs to patients' status at discharge. The sample consisted of 367 adult patients receiving nursing services from a certified home health agency. The majority (61 percent) of patients could manage independently or only with the help of family providers at home care nursing discharge. The rest (39 percent) required at least some help from community service providers, were institutionalized or had died. Patients' discharge status was more closely related to nursing needs such as nursing problems, functional status and coping ability than to medical conditions.
This study was conducted to determine the contributions of sociodemographic factors, medical conditions, and nursing dependency to nursing problems identified and nursing care provided to patients during a home care nursing visit. Patient interviews, direct observation of nursing care, record abstraction, and nurses' reports were used to obtain data from 438 patients receiving nursing visits from a certified home health agency. Nursing dependency was the strongest predictor of the nursing problems of and nursing care provided to home care patients. Measures of nursing dependency should be incorporated in models to determine the extent of nursing problems and nursing care provided in the home and in models of home care nursing reimbursement.
We explored the influence of nursing dependency over and above sociodemographic factors and medical conditions on the use of home care nursing resources by patients 65 years of age and older. Use measures were number of visits made by home care nurses, and length of nursing stay. Nurses' reports, direct observation of nursing care provided, patient interviews, and record abstraction were used to obtain data on 236 patients who were admitted to and discharged from a certified public home health agency. Nursing dependency explained a significant amount of variance over and above sociodemographic factors and medical conditions in number of visits made by nurses and length of nursing stay. Measures of nursing dependency should be incorporated into future studies that examine factors related to use of home care nursing resources.June L. Helberg is with University of Rochester, School of Nursing.
We explored the influence of nursing dependency over and above sociodemographic factors and medical conditions on the use of home care nursing resources by patients 65 years of age and older. Use measures were number of visits made by home care nurses, and length of nursing stay. Nurses' reports, direct observation of nursing care provided, patient interviews, and record abstraction were used to obtain data on 236 patients who were admitted to and discharged from a certified public home health agency. Nursing dependency explained a significant amount of variance over and above sociodemographic factors and medical conditions in number of visits made by nurses and length of nursing stay. Measures of nursing dependency should be incorporated into future studies that examine factors related to use of home care nursing resources.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.