Community health nursing practices in contexts of poverty, uncertainty and unpredictability: a systematization of personal experiences

Several years of professional nursing practices, while living in the poorest neighbourhoods in the outlying areas of Brazil's Amazon region, have led the author to develop a better understanding of marginalized populations. Providing care to people with leprosy and sex workers in riverside communities has taken place in conditions of uncertainty, insecurity, unpredictability and institutional violence. The question raised is how we can develop community health nursing practices in this context. A systematization of personal experiences based on popular education is used and analyzed as a way of learning by obtaining scientific knowledge through critical analysis of field practices. Ties of solidarity and belonging developed in informal, mutual-help action groups are promising avenues for research and the development of knowledge in health promotion, prevention and community care and a necessary contribution to national public health programmers.

Muitos anos de prática profissional em enfermagem, vivendo nas vizinhanças mais pobres de áreas distantes da região Amazônica brasileira levaram a autora a desenvolver uma melhor compreensão das populações marginalizadas. O cuidado às pessoas com lepra e trabalhadores do sexo de comunidades ribeirinhas tem sido realizado em condições de incerteza, insegurança, imprevisibilidade e violência institucional. A questão levantada é como podemos desenvolver práticas de enfermagem na saúde da comunidade neste contexto. A sistematização de experiências pessoais baseadas na educação popular é usada e analisada como uma maneira de conhecer e obter conhecimento científico através da análise crítica das práticas da área. Laços de solidariedade e pertencimento desenvolvidos em ações de grupos informais de ajuda mútua são caminhos promissores para pesquisa e desenvolvimento do conhecimento em promoção a saúde, prevenção e cuidado à comunidade e uma contribuição necessária para os programas de saúde pública nacional.

Varios años de prácticas profesionales de enfermería, viviendo en los distritos más pobres de las áreas periféricas de la región amazónica de Brasil, llevaron o autor a desarrollar una mejor comprensión de poblaciones marginalizadas. La provisión de cuidados a personas con lepra y trabajadores del sexo en comunidades ribereñas ha sido llevado a cabo en condiciones de incertidumbre, inseguridad, imprevisibilidad y violencia institucional. Se pregunta como podemos desarrollar prácticas de enfermería en salud comunitaria en este contexto. Una sistematización de experiencias personales basada en educación popular es usada y analizada como un método de saber, obteniendo conocimiento científico mediante un análisis crítico de prácticas en el campo. Lazos de solidaridad y pertenencia desarrollados en grupos de acción informales, de ayuda mutua son caminos prometedores para la investigación y el desarrollo de conocimiento en la promoción de la salud, prevención y atención comunitaria y una contribución necesaria a programas nacionales de salud pública.

Estimating the Cost of Visiting Nursing Service by Visiting Nursing Model for Urban Public Health Center in Korea / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study focused on analysing costs per visiting nursing care based on nursing activities in a public health center. METHOD: The Easley-Storfjell Instrument(1997) was used for a prospective descriptive analysis of self-records for workload data from 10 visiting nurses during 4 weeks on all nursing activities. In addition, analysis of the 478 visiting nursing records and cost data from 5 home visiting departments in public health centers during one year of 2003 was done. RESULT: The workload of visiting nurses by the type of model was identified as follows: Type I showed that caseloads made up 32.9 % of all nurse activities, and type II showed that the caseloads made up 45.8 %. Second, The cost per visit in type I was 33,088 won and 31,323 won in type II. Third, the estimated budgets were 1,902,436 won to 12,057,696 won for the type I model. and 4,151,316 won to 17,432,712 won for the type II model for one year. CONCLUSION: This study's results will contribute to baseline data used to establish on infrastructure for visiting nursing program and visiting nursing agencies based on the budget of visiting nursing services.

Economic Evaluation of Visitng Nurse Services for the Low-income Elderly with Long-term Care Needs / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate economic viability of public health center visiting nurse services for the low-income elderly with long-term care needs. METHOD: The sample consisted of 252 community dwelling elderly who enrolled in public health center visiting nurse services for three months or more. Data was collected on physical (ADL and IADL) and cognitive impairments of the elderly, contents and frequency of visiting nurse services, cost per visit, and costs of alternative services for long-term care. RESULT: The mean score of ADL and IADL levels of the elderly was 2.80.4904, which indicated these patients were mostly independent. Eighty four percent of the elderly subjects were cognitively intact. Among visiting nurse services supplied, providing assessment was 34%, followed by education and counseling 26%, medication 22%, and referral. The mean cost per visit was 17,824.1 won, which transformed into a total cost per person per year of 161,130.2 won. Comparing the cost of a visiting nurse service with those of other long-term care alternatives, the visiting nurse service was the least costly alternative, followed by an outpatient clinic, hospital based home care, and nursing home. CONCLUSION: Overall, the results of the study provide evidence of the economic viability of visiting nurse services for the low-income elderly among long-term care alternatives.

Economic analysis of a pragmatic randomised trial of home visits by a nurse to elderly people with hypertension in Mexico

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the costs and the effectiveness of an intervention of home visits made by nurses to elderly people versus usual care given by the family medicine units. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample of 4,777 subjects aged 60 years and over covered by the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, IMSS) were screened. Those with a systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure level higher or equal than 160/90 mm Hg were randomly allocated to the intervention or control groups. The intervention consisted of visits at home by nurses who gave health and lifestyle advice to the participants. The economic evaluation was considered from a health services and patient perspective. Direct and indirect costs were calculated as incremental. Effectiveness was measured in terms of cost per millimetre of mercury reduced. RESULTS: Three hundred and forty five participants were allocated to the intervention group and compared with 338 controls. At the end of the intervention period the difference in the mean change in systolic blood pressure was 3.31 mm Hg (95 CI 6.32, 0.29; p = 0.03) comparing with the control group. In diastolic blood pressure the difference was 3.67 (95 CI 5.22, 2.12; p < 0.001). The total cost of the intervention was 101 901.66 pesos. The intervention cost per patient was 34.61 pesos (US$3.78), (CI 95 34.44, 35.46). The cost-effectiveness ratios was 10.46 pesos (US$1.14) for systolic (CI 95 129.31, 5.51) and 9.43 (US$1.03) for diastolic (CI 95 19.90, 2.49). CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in blood pressure obtained may well justify the small incremental cost of the intervention.