The role of the district nurse in the care of disable patients in primary care

Introduction. An ever growing number of disabled people is a consequence of aging of both Polish and other European societies. In
Poland the number of disabled people doubled between 1978 and 2002.

Aim of the study. In the presented study I had endeavoured to address the issue of adequate care of disabled individuals in the context of
daily activities of General Practice District Nurse. The study involved a questionnaires directed to disabled patients as well as to district
nurses (DNs) providing home care for those patients.

Material and methods. Completed questionnaires were received from 200 disabled patients and from 23 District Nurses. Analysis of the
data revealed that average patients’ age was 62.4 years. Furthermore, the care for the disabled patients constituted the bulk of DNs activities,
as it involved about 70% of all home visits, while an average duration of a single visit dedicated to a disabled person was about 1.5 times
longer. Despite this, the patients generally complained about restricted availability, and, in their opinion, about relatively short time devoted
for DNs consultations. Given the increasing number of disabled patients requiring care, this might reflect the shortage of availability of DNs services that is only likely to worsen in the forthcoming future. An interesting observation pertained to inadequacy of extra-medical care for
the disabled in the investigated GP practices. In particular, only 10% of patients had any access to public funding provided for home
adaptations suitable for disabled persons, while 33% of patients were not provided with an adequate rehabilitation equipment. Furthermore,
only 16% of patients received any extra-medical care from public institutions, while the great majority of disabled individuals had to rely
entirely on family and neighbour support.

Results and conclusion. In my opinion, it might be predicted that during the on-coming years an extra attention will have to be paid
towards the issue of an adequate care for disabled members of our society. In such circumstances, this would inevitably involve the issue of
the key role of district nurse services.