徳島県の訪問看護ステーションにおける規模別の看護提供状況

This survey aimed to clarify the current status of providing nursing services and the characteristics of visiting nursing stations (VNSs), which were classified by the size of VNS in Tokushima Prefecture. A questionnaire survey was conducted from January to March 2015 among all 71 VNSs in the prefecture. The questionnaire included questions regarding the implementation framework of home nursing, actual situations of service provision, conditions of patients, and issues and challenges of home care in Tokushima Prefecture. Of 71 VNSs, 34 responded to the questionnaire（response rate, 47.9％）. The proportion of VNSs that provided complicated medical procedures was low ; e.g., 27.6％ of VNSs provided self-peritoneal dialysis at home, 48.3％ provided services for narcotic pain control, and 58.6％ provided total parenteral nutrition. Home visits for patients with mental illnesses were provided significantly more by large size VNSs Home visits were frequently provided for households located far from VNSs, thus raising concerns regarding the workload of nurses and the convenient use of VNSs by clients. For patients to comfortably live in local areas that are familiar to them, it was considered that correcting the uneven geographical distribution of VNSs might be important.