Abstract
This study clarifies the contributing factors involved in the decisions made by discharge support nurses to introduce home-visit nursing care in cases other than end-of-life care and medical treatment.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with seven discharge support nurses regarding the circumstances and decision process of cases in which they decided to introduce home-visit nursing care, analyzing these instances qualitatively and inductively.
Seven categories were extracted as factors for discharge support nurses’ decision to introduce home-visit nursing in cases other than end-of-life care and medical treatment: “Anxiety of the patient/family;” “Necessity of intervention from a medical point of view;” “Necessity of family support;” “Predicted future medical condition, growth and development, and treatment issues;” “Depending on the disease, patient/family situation timing;” “Necessity for early detection of changes in medical condition and the need to connect to appropriate support;” and “Difficulty in understanding the patient-family relationship and life.”
Discharge support nurses determine the need for home-visit nursing care while assessing the overall lifestyle of the patient and family, identifying the timing and introduction of home-visit nursing care based on long-term predictions based on the characteristics of the disease.
In the future, it is expected that the number of patients with multiple illnesses who will move from one place of treatment to another will increase; thus, it is necessary to clarify the timing of the introduction of home nursing care for each disease. （234 words）
