Functional ability of patients provided with the nursing long-term domiciliary care

Introduction. Nursing long-term domiciliary care is a service provided within long-term care. This service can be delivered to patients, who have been assigned 0–40 points on the Barthel scale and are in receipt of a care referral from any doctor, who has a contract with NHF.

Aim. The aim of the work was to assess the functional ability of the patients provided with the nursing long-term domiciliary care.

Material and methods. 190 patients receiving the nursing long-term domiciliary care from two self-governing health centres in the Slask District were chosen for the study, which was conducted in March and April 2013. In the study the authors applied a diagnostic survey, their own questionnaire and the Barthel scale.

Results. The patients were between 44–100 years old. The functional ability was rated average17 points on the Barthel scale. About 64% of the patients were rated with 0–20 points and were defined as needing assistance in activities of daily living. The remaining group — 35,79% were rated with 25–40 points and needing moderate care. The patients with a severe impairment of mental ability and neurogical disorders were rated with the smallest amount of points.

Conclusions. The average age of the patients provided with the nursing long-term domiciliary care was 81,99. The level of functional ability does not depend on age, sex, place of abode, education, source of income or the length of domiciliary care. The kind of disease in a given patient influences the level of functional ability.

Nursing Topics 2013; 21 (4): 42–51