Abstract

This study aims to evaluate overtime phone calls to homecare professionals including homecare nurses and physicians. From January 9th to February 8th in 2017, we prospectively surveyed overtime phone calls to four homecare clinics and four nursing facilities in Tenri City, Japan. During the survey, the nursing facilities covered a total of 337 patients and received 123 overtime calls. These calls were from patients and their families, which were non-clinical communication with homecare nurses such as re-scheduling their next visits. Additionally, the patients also asked their nurses for clinical management of pain, fever and anxiety. A total of 81% of the calls to the nurses were managed by homecare nurses themselves without physicians' supports. On the other hand, homecare physicians covered 160 patients and they received 25 overtime phone calls during this survey. Of the 25 calls, a total of 15 (60%) calls required physicians' home visits. Therefore, in order to develop continuous homecare systems, it is essential to develop mutual collaboration between homecare nurses and physicians.