Information Gathering by Outpatient Nurses to Recognize Outpatients’ Home Care Needs

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to clarify how the outpatient nurses collect information and use it to recognize the home care needs of their patients.

Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with eighteen outpatient nurses in 15 hospitals regarding the patients whose home care needs they had identified and supported. The interview data were transcribed, coded, and categorized to analyze the collected information.

Results: Based on the analysis, we extracted 41 subcategories and 6 major categories such as “patient’s state of treatment and symptoms”，“patient’s state at arrival to hospital”，“state of the patient’s companion during hospital visit”，“patient’s state at home”，“self-management and self-care”，and “recognition and application status of patients and caregivers related to home care”．

Conclusion: The results revealed that outpatient nurses observe the changes in the states of both outpatients and their companions and inspect the outpatients’ situations at home using nursing practices such as interviews. It is necessary to determine how much the home care needs of outpatients are grasped through these practices and to develop a system of providing adequate support for them.