Nursing Consultation & Home Visits: Primary Health Care
Nursing Consultation
A nursing consultation involves contact between a nurse and a patient who requires care and assessment. It is a meeting between the patient and nursing professionals with the aim of providing care, administering medication, and/or providing advice or health education. The goal is to promote health, prevent illness, provide treatment, and assist with rehabilitation.
Nursing consultations should be decisive, and when necessary, the patient should be referred to another professional. Previously, consultations were primarily scheduled.
Types of Consultations:
- On Demand: For example, wound care in a healing room followed by scheduling the next appointment. The initial visit requires a request, while subsequent visits are scheduled.
- Scheduled: Typically for chronic patients.
First Consultation:
- Initiates the nursing process, including assessment and care plan development.
Follow-up Checks:
- Involve monitoring and control.
Post-Clinical Checks:
- Follow-up after a doctor or other professional’s referral, often to administer treatment.
Tasks/Activities:
- Nursing process.
- Data collection and analysis.
- Referral when appropriate.
- Care planning.
- Performing necessary nursing care.
- Evaluation and recording.
Home Visits
Home visits involve a healthcare team approaching the patient’s home or family. In nursing, this is a consultation conducted in the patient’s home or with their family.
Types of Home Visits:
- On Demand.
- Scheduled.
Objectives of Home Visits:
- Gather information.
- Perform a technique or provide care.
- Collect samples from individuals who may not visit the health center regularly.
- Reach individuals/families who are part of programs or controls (e.g., vaccinations).
- Provide control/monitoring/care to patients with disabilities.
- Provide health education.
- Undertake visits specific to a program.
Stages of a Home Visit:
- Preparation: Define the objective, gather materials and data, and arrange the visit.
- Introduction: Introduce yourself to the family, present credentials, and establish a comfortable environment.
- Development: Achieve the goal of the visit.
- Record: Document the visit and its characteristics.
Key Considerations:
- Patient and caregiver information.
- Data related to housing and environment.
- Demographic, socio-economic, and cultural data.
- Habits.
- Health status of both patient and caregiver.
- Family dynamics.
- Available physical and personal resources.
- Information about the patient and primary caregiver.