Health gains for users of long-term home care services in Portugal.
Susana Alexandra Fonseca-Teixeira, Pedro Miguel Dos Santos Dinis Parreira, Lisete Dos Santos Mendes Mónico and 1 others
PMID 40072992WHAT IT FOUND
In 151 home-care users, mobility, daily-living function, pressure-ulcer risk, fall risk and pain were better at discharge than at admission, but mobility, daily-living function and pain were worse while waiting.
Key findings
01Users were significantly better at discharge than at admission in mobility, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and cognitive status.
02Users showed significant improvement from admission to discharge in pressure-ulcer status and pain.
03While waiting for admission, users significantly deteriorated in mobility, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and cognitive status.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Single centre, convenience sample of 151 users in one Portuguese Integrated Continuing Care Team, so results may not apply to other home-care teams. No random allocation or comparison group; patients were compared only with themselves over time, so other factors in the same period cannot be ruled out. The paper describes care from an integrated multi-professional team and does not isolate the contribution of nursing care or any single professional. The waiting-period deterioration is important, but the study does not show what would have happened with faster referral or with another service. Outcome changes are reported with statistical effect sizes and standardized scores, but the paper does not state which changes are clinically important to patients.
Declared interests
Funded by national funds through FCT under project UIDB/04279/2020, by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Health of the Catholic University of Portugal, and by the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing of the Nursing School of Coimbra. No other conflicts are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the better outcomes at discharge as proof that nursing care alone caused them. The study had no control group, and the paper says the multi-professional team provided the care.