Abstract
Objective: To elucidate the components of nursing practice that support home care patients and their families from the perspective of visiting nurses according to the number of years of home health care experience.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using the Delphi process, which is a consensus development method. In Round 1, focus group interviews were conducted on 19 visiting nurses who belong to one of six visiting nursing stations. Verbatim records of interview data were compared between nurses with less than three years of home health care experience and nurses with three or more years of experience. In Round 2, a total of 27 visiting nurses agreed to participate in a questionnaire survey on the components of visiting nursing. In Round 3, the respondents were asked whether or not they agree with the results of the survey conducted in Round 2. An agreement rate of 75% was used as an indicator of consensus.
Results: In Round 1, the following four areas of visiting nursing between careers were identified:“formation of partnerships”,“self-support”,“nursing judgment”, and“empirical learning”. However,“multidisciplinary cooperation”was not identified by visiting nurses with less than three years of home health care experience. In Rounds 2 and 3, 43 items were identified by all 21 respondents as components of visiting nursing practice.
Conclusion: A total of four areas were identified as common components of all visiting nursing, and one additional area was identified only among the more experienced group. It is necessary to investigate how to establish learning environments for visiting nurses according to the length of home health care experience.
