2024-04-04 09:48:26
Who can get?
Home nursing services paid for by PSDF can be received by residents covered by compulsory health insurance who, due to a changed state of health or a functional disorder, find it difficult to fully function in everyday life, as well as those who need post-operative care.
The provision of nursing services at home must be ensured by all institutions providing primary ambulatory health care services to the residents registered with them. Institutions can provide these services themselves or enter into an agreement with another institution.
Whether the patient has a need for nursing services at home is assessed according to the questionnaire for the assessment of the need for nursing services. The questionnaire is filled out and the need for care is determined by the patient’s family doctor, a nurse working in the family doctor’s team, a geriatric doctor or a nurse working with him, a doctor or nurse treating the patient in the hospital.
Referrals for home care services are issued by the patient’s family physician or prescribed by the patient’s family physician.
Patients who remain unable to care for themselves after surgery and require post-operative care may also receive ambulatory care services at home. In this case, the referral is made by the surgeon, indicating the patient’s care recommendations. Then the patient with a referral for the provision of nursing services at home must contact his polyclinic.
Last year, more than 50,000 people used home care services paid for by the PSDF. population throughout Lithuania. Over the past three years, the number of these services has increased almost 4 times – from 660 thousand. In 2020, up to approximately 2.5 million in 2023. Thus, more and more PSDF funds are needed every year to pay for nursing services at home: from 12.4 million euros in the 2020s to almost 38 million euros last year.
How many services can be provided per patient?
The number and type of visits by specialists providing nursing services at home are allocated to the patient, depending on the level of nursing care need – low, medium or high.
For example, if the questionnaire scores between 15 and 29 points, the need for care is assessed as low. Specialists providing nursing services at home can visit a patient with a low need for care 52 times during a calendar year free of charge. If, after filling out the questionnaire, the patient’s need for care is determined to be average, the recipient of these services can be visited 156 times per calendar year, if the need is high, up to 365 times.
A patient with a low or moderate need for nursing services (assessed by the completed questionnaire) is assigned no more than 2 visits per day. For a person with a high need for care, no more than 3 visits on the same day are provided with PSDF funds.
If the patient receives nursing services at home, the nurse visits for the first time within 1-5 working days. Urgent visits are completed within the first 24 hours and scheduled visits within 1-5 business days.
Nursing services at home are not provided to the patient if outpatient palliative care services are provided.
Who provides and how?
Home care services can be provided daily from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, as well as on weekends and holidays. Arriving specialists do not stay in the nursing home all day. After visiting the patient, they perform the prescribed procedures and planned actions provided by the specialist.
The team of home care providers consists of a nurse, a nurse’s aide and a physical therapist. Since last year, institutions providing nursing services at home can selectively employ occupational therapists, and from July 1 of this year. these professionals will need to complement all home care teams. Each specialist provides nursing services according to the needs of patients and their competence.
For example, a nurse performs injections, ligation, maintenance and drips, takes blood, urine for laboratory tests, performs electrocardiogram, prevention and care of bedsores, care of wounds and artificial body openings, feeding through a tube, etc.
The nurse’s assistant provides personal hygiene services, assistance in washing or feeding the patient, changing his position, performing morning and evening hygiene.
A physiotherapist identifies, treats, corrects movement disorders and increases physical and functional capacity. It helps to prevent diseases, signs that indicate a disorder of the body, gradual increase of lesions, limitation of function and disability.
Occupational therapists teach many different activities: from personal hygiene to leisure or even work skills training. The occupational therapist helps adapt the home environment to the patient’s needs, selects auxiliary equipment: splints, crutches, a wheelchair, eating utensils, etc.
Nursing services at home can also be provided in social care institutions that have a personal health care activity license to provide general practice nursing services and where 25 or more people live. Specialists of the nursing team visiting them can only perform the following procedures prescribed by a family doctor or a nurse working with a family doctor: take samples for diagnostic tests, perform an electrocardiogram, measure intraocular pressure, perform interventional procedures, care for artificial body openings, ulcers or bedsores, suction mucus.
Panevėžys territorial sick fund information
2024-04-04 09:48:26