DETERMINING THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE FREQUENCY OF VISITS OF HOME HEALTHCARE PATIENTS

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to determine the factors affecting the frequency of visits for patients benefiting from home healthcare services. Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 1,454 patients received home healthcare service uninterruptedly for 12 months in 2019. Linear and log-linear regression methods were used to identify the factors affecting the number of visits in a year, and the statistical significance was evaluated at p<0.05 level. Findings: The majority of the patients were 80 years and older (60.3%), female (68.4%), and fully dependent (55.1%). Cardiovascular and neuropsychiatric diseases were very common among patients (82.9% and 76.3%, respectively). We identified that the need for INR test, having decubitis ulcer, using urinary catheter, demand for oxygen therapy or enteral nutrition, and having a neuropsychiatric disease significantly increase the number of visits by 62%, 51%, 37%, 25%, 17%, and 17%, respectively. Conclusion: Several clinical features affect the number of services received during the year. The findings of this study are of great importance in terms of modeling studies aimed at improving home healthcare services and predicting future needs.