Future perspective of psychiatric home-visit nursing provided by nursing stations in Japan.

Psychiatric home-visit nursing supports the lives of people with mental disorders in the community and plays an important role in the "community-based integrated care system" which is rapidly being implemented in Japan. Although the number of responsive home-visit nursing stations (HVNS) is increasing, the current situation of service provision has not yet been clarified. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics and difficulties of psychiatric home-visit nursing provided by HVNS. We further discussed future care provisions and service improvements. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 7,869 member stations of the National Association for Visiting Nurse Service; of this number 2,782 facilities (35.4%) responded. Of the 2,782 facilities, 1,613 (58.0%) provided psychiatric home-visit nursing. The HVNS that provided psychiatric home-visit nursing were diverse, and the percentage of users with mental disorders ranged widely. Majority of the HVNS reported having "difficulty in caring for users/families who refuse care" (56.3%), "difficulty in care for psychiatric symptoms" (54.0%), and "difficulty in assessment of psychiatric symptoms" (49.1%), with differences in difficulty depending on the percentage of psychiatric users. As user needs and HVNS characteristics diversify, it is necessary to take advantage of the characteristics of each station to develop consultation and training systems and collaborative network platforms within each community for future sustainable service provision.

Service contents and recovery orientation of psychiatric home-visit nursing evaluated by users in Japan.

The aim of this study was to clarify the differences perceived by users of home-visit nursing care between providers from medical institutions and services from independent home-visit nursing stations, as well as to examine the recovery orientation from the perspectives of the users. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 32 home-visit nursing stations and 18 medical institutions. From these facilities, 10 users of psychiatric home-visit nursing services who were being treated for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were selected. With regard to the care that they thought was good, the home-visit nursing station users responded more often than users of home-visit nursing care provided by medical institutions regarding "help with hobbies and fun" and "support to empower you". Regarding what users wanted from home-visit nursing care, a statistically significant difference was found between users of home nursing stations who answered, "I want the same person to come", and users of home-visit nursing services provided by medical institutions, who answered, "I want various people to come". Brief INSPIRE-J score for study participants was 81.9 (standard deviation; SD 18.1) for users of home-visit nursing care services from medical institutions and 83.7 (SD 15.5) for home-visit nursing station users. It is conceivable that the care provided by psychiatric home-visit nursing services may have a greater potential for promoting recovery. However, since the characteristics of users and facilities may differ, future research is needed to clarify which recovery factors are effectively promoted by each service.

[Visiting nursing care for the end stage patient--a decision making support].

As the state of social security system has been changing, such as medical insurance and long-term care insurance for instances, the number of patients who would like to spend the final moment at home has been increasing. There are various ways to introduce and process for the end of stage patients who prefer to die at home. This report shows the current state of support to those cases through the activity of the home visit nursing care station. In the home nursing visit, it is important to assist the patient what kind of options he (or she) may have, and think them together with the patient.

[The process of home palliative care].

In achieving a home palliative care, an early involvement on the part of medical institutions in steps like a confirmation of the patient and family preference, a discharge arrangement and a continuous liaison with the visiting nursing station are required.

[Questionnaire survey of the actual working conditions of care-managers].

In order to clarify the present status of care-managers, a questionnaire was sent to 1,714 care-managers working in Kanagawa Prefecture in June 2002. The aspects Investigated included their background, amount of care-management and degree of achievement, conditions of employment, opinion poll and training system. The response rate was 45.6% (782 out of 1,714). Concerning the total number of users in care at present, 37% of care-managers had less than 30 people, 24% from 31 to 50 and, surprisingly, 39% had more than 51 people. However, 42% answered that less than 30 was an appropriate number of users, 52% said 31 to 50 and only 6% answered that more than 51 people was an appropriate number. The conferences of users service representative were held only 8%. Concerning the burden of care-management, 87% of them answered the evaluation of every month and 86% did the conferences of users service representative. The cases requiring much time for the support, had problems not only the users but also in the household, who lacked the understanding and judgment for long-term care insurance. Most care-managers needed information on the available services and newly open care-service institutions. 27% of care-managers satisfied their care-management, 25% dissatisfied and the remainder were neither off nor on. The satisfaction to the care-management correlated well with the intelligibility of the management leader, motivation regarding care-management and the degree of satisfaction with their income. It is concluded that the number of users per care-manager is too large, and that unfortunately it might further increase in the future. The conferences of users service representative were extremely held too low. It is also showed that information of the other service office and informal service with the exception of long-term care insurance are required.

[Questionnaire survey of the actual working conditions of care-managers].

In order to clarify the present status of care-managers, a questionnaire was sent to 1,714 care-managers working in Kanagawa Prefecture in June 2002. The aspects investigated included their background, amount of care-management and degree of achievement, conditions of employment, opinion poll and training system. The response rate was 45.6% (782 out of 1,714). Concerning the total number of users in care at present, 37% of care-managers had less than 30 people, 24% from 31 to 50 and, surprisingly, 39% had more than 51 people. However, 42% answered that less than 30 was an appropriate number of users, 52% said 31 to 50 and only 6% answered that more than 51 people was an appropriate number. The conferences of users service representative were held only 8%. Concerning the burden of care-management, 87% of them answered the evaluation of every month and 86% did the conferences of users service representative. The cases requiring much time for the support, had problems not only the users but also in the household, who lacked the understanding and judgment for long-term care insurance. Most care-managers needed information on the available services and newly open care-service institutions. 27% of care-managers satisfied their care-management, 25% dissatisfied and the remainder were neither off nor on. The satisfaction to the care-management correlated well with the intelligibility of the management leader, motivation regarding care management and the degree of satisfaction with their income. It is concluded that the number of users per care-manager is too large, and that unfortunately it might further increase in the future. The conferences of users service representative were extremely held too low. It is also showed that information of the other service office and informal service with the exception of long-term care insurance are required.