Home Health Nursing Consistency & Patient Satisfaction (Summary)
In-home health care, clinicians recognize that the care setting and the home is the inviolable domain of the patient. Therefore, compared to the hospitalized patient, the home health care patient often has a more significant role in determining how specific interventions will be implemented. There is a need for increased research on Continuity for home care nursing which does not only involve ensuring that someone is responsible for care but that the same nurses regularly care for the same patients. Additionally, increased knowledge from this topic will result in enhanced home health setting as a way of improving quality of care, patient-centeredness, and reimbursement related to satisfaction.
PICOT Question: “Do adult home care patients with a single designated home-nursing provider, compared to those who receive home nursing services from multiple nurses, report greater satisfaction with their care over three months,” and is broken down into the following sections.
The evidence shows that consistency in a nursing assignment is a sine qua non of patient satisfaction, and the nurse providing care should embrace the qualities that are seen by patients as being in their best interests. Additionally, consistently supplying nurses not only promotes the fostering of the nurse-patient relationship and encourages communication, and builds the emotional investment that patients equate with a successful, positive experience.
Despite the shortage in personnel, efficiency in assignment practices can be achieved through thorough scheduling practices, and the assignment of primary care providers with other users when necessary so that they do not disrupt the existing nurse-patient relationship, especially in times of crisis and in palliative care. The probable change in practice is to adapt scheduling practices, so that consistency inpatient assignment is given priority. The patient should receive care from the same nurse regularly rather than only sporadically, and changes in nurse schedules should be given lower priority than patient needs. The quality of the nurse-patient relationship should be reviewed periodically to ensure that the match is a positive one and contributing to the patient’s satisfaction and welfare. Nurses should also be trained to recognize the importance of constancy in care and the fostering of a strong and positive relationship with their patients.
References (These two articles have data that is at the center of this research objectives)
Ayalon, L., & Roziner, I. (2016). Satisfaction with the relationship from the perspectives of family caregivers, older adults and their home care workers. Aging & mental health, 20(1), 56-64.
Russell, D., Rosati, R. J., Rosenfeld, P., & Marren, J. M. (2011). Continuity in home health care: Is consistency in nursing personnel associated with better patient outcomes?. Journal for healthcare quality, 33(6), 33-39.