Abstract
Older adults are admitted to home health (HH) care from acute care settings with diverse needs, requiring different levels of care. However, it is unknown how nurses decide on visit patterns nor are there empirically derived clinical decision support tools to guide them. Using qualitative descriptive method, HH nurses’ decision making about the number and frequency of nursing visits when developing a visit plan was explored. Semi-structured interviews with HH nurses (N=30) employed full-time by three agencies were analyzed. Through content analysis three approaches emerged: nurses followed a systematic approach to develop visit plans and based their decisions on a central team’s recommendations, their professional evaluation, or their agency-specific guidelines. Factors considered included patient’s clinical status, learning style, and support system. Findings are contributing to a decision support tool that guides HH nurses in developing appropriate visit plans to ensure an optimal transition of older adults from hospital to home.
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