Biomaterial Database

Home health clients: characteristics, outcomes of care, and nursing interventions. 1993

K S Martin, and N J Scheet, and M R Stegman

Visiting Nurse Association of Omaha, NE.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the study was to provide descriptive data about the characteristics of home health clients, the services that nurses provide, and the outcomes of those services. Such data have been sparse. METHODS This study examined 2403 home health clients served by four agencies in Nebraska, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. Demographic, health history, and clinical data were analyzed. The Omaha System was used as the model for describing and measuring data specific to clients' health-related problems, nursing interventions, and outcomes of care. RESULTS The median age of home health clients was 68.6 years. Nurses conducted 70% of all home visits, identified 9107 client problems, and provided over 96,000 interventions. Between admission and dismissal, clients improved by at least 0.52 point on three 5-point problem-specific outcome subscales (Knowledge, Behavior, and Status). CONCLUSIONS These data show important characteristics of home health clients in a large national sample. They also support the usefulness of the Omaha System in describing and quantifying nursing practice in the community health setting. The magnitude of positive client change between admission and dismissal suggests that community health services do make a difference.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007231	Infant, Newborn	An infant during the first 28 days after birth.	Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D009329	Nebraska	State bounded on the north by South Dakota, on the east by Iowa and Missouri, on the south by Kansas and Colorado, and on the west by Colorado and Wyoming.
D009515	New Jersey	State bounded on the north by New York and Pennsylvania, on the east by New York and the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Delaware Bay, and on the west by Pennsylvania.
D009733	Nursing Diagnosis	Conclusions derived from the nursing assessment that establish a health status profile for the patient and from which nursing interventions may be ordered.	Diagnosis, Nursing,Diagnoses, Nursing,Nursing Diagnoses
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D003152	Community Health Nursing	General and comprehensive nursing practice directed to individuals, families, or groups as it relates to and contributes to the health of a population or community. This is not an official program of a Public Health Department.	Nursing, Community Health