Abstract
The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristic role of public health nurses at a health center involved in the process of a care management for patients with intractable disease in the nervous system. A semi-structural interview was conducted with four public health nurses belong to this health center about the contents of care management applied for a single patient individually. Using Okamoto's and others "incurable disease case needs with which a public health nurse is concerned", and "the index of care management activity" performed analysis. By analyzing the results it was clearly appeared the required nursing needs to be regarded as public health nurses and they were as follows. The characteristic roles of the public health nurses had performed were clearly appeared and they are introducing public services, offering educational support based on the professional knowledge about the disease in terms of the person, supporting the family to improve the QOL (quality of family life), and making adjustments to cooperate with the person when the meeting are concerned. The public health nurses had supported the patients to achieve a healthy life such as, preventing from the worsening of the disease, consulting the anxiousness with their functions of daily living activities and their future life, acceptance of the disease, enhancing self-care by improving the existing social services, by caring their families, arranging communication with others, and the corporation with the other medical officers.
