Effect of health visitors working with elderly patients in general practice: a randomised controlled trial.
Health visitors were employed specifically to care for two years for a random sample of patients in general practice who were aged over 70. Independent assessments made at the beginning and end of the study showed that the health visitor in an urban practice had some impact on her caseload of patients; she provided more services for them, their mortality was reduced, and their quality of life improved, though the last measure just failed to be statistically significant. The health visitor working in a rural practice had no such effect.
D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011897:Random Allocation; D012423:Rural Health; D014504:Urban Health; D014852:Wales