[Urgent Visits to Nursing Homes: A General Practitioner's Perspective]

Area of Science:

• Geriatrics
• Family Medicine
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Increasing demographic changes lead to a rise in home visits to nursing care facilities.
• Urgent home visits pose significant challenges for general practitioners (GPs) with no established implementation guidelines.
• Current medical emergency care systems require optimization for nursing home residents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how GP practices manage urgent home visits.
• To identify potential improvements in medical emergency care for nursing home residents.
• To understand the challenges faced by GPs during urgent home visits.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 teaching doctors from the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Bonn.
• Qualitative content analysis according to Mayring was used to evaluate the interview data.
• The study focused on the practical experiences and perspectives of GPs regarding urgent home visits.

Main Results:

• Urgent home visit requests were typically received via telephone or fax and often conducted after consultation hours.
• GPs rarely involve the rescue service for home visits, preferring to manage them internally.
• Challenges included waiting times at nursing homes for joint visits and variability in nursing staff qualifications and emergency handling.
• Physicians identified needs for further training of nursing staff, preventive house visits, and improved urgency assessment.

Conclusions:

• Proposed improvements for emergency care in elderly homes, suggested by family doctors, warrant testing in controlled studies.
• Strengthening collaboration between GPs and nursing homes through joint training in geriatric emergency care is recommended.
• Optimizing the management of urgent home visits can enhance the quality of care for nursing home residents.