[Who visits the district nurses in Gothenburg?]

Area of Science:

• Community Health Nursing
• Geriatric Care
• Healthcare Resource Management

Background:

• District nursing services are crucial for community healthcare delivery.
• Understanding patient demographics and visit patterns is essential for efficient service provision.
• Elderly populations often have complex healthcare needs requiring specialized nursing support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the demographics and patterns of district nurse visits in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• To identify key factors influencing the utilization of district nursing services.
• To provide data-driven insights for optimizing healthcare resource allocation in community nursing.

Main Methods:

• A prospective registration of all district nurse visits over a one-week period in Gothenburg.
• Data collection included patient age, gender, visit location (home, aged care facility, clinic), and nurse-initiated vs. patient-initiated visits.
• Statistical analysis to determine the distribution of visits across different demographic groups and visit types.

Main Results:

• A total of 5,250 district nurse visits were recorded.
• 77% of visits involved patients aged 65 and older, with 54% involving those 75 and older.
• Visits to elderly patients were more time-consuming; age was identified as the primary factor for resource planning.

Conclusions:

• District nursing services in Gothenburg are predominantly utilized by the elderly population.
• The findings underscore the importance of age as a critical factor in planning and allocating district nursing resources.
• Future healthcare resource management should strategically focus on the needs of the aging demographic to ensure effective community care.