[Working conditions in home health care nursing: a survey of home care nurses in hospitals in Korea].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this research was to address the working conditions of home health nurses through a nationwide home health agency survey conducted at hospitals.


METHODS
The mail surveys were sent to 303 home health nurses nation wide and returned with a response rate of 71.8%.


RESULTS
(a) Seventy-five percent of home health agencies were established within the past 5 years and half of home health nurses are over 40 years old. (b) Working conditions were considered as follows: Seventy-one percent of respondents were full-time employees, sixty-six percent of home health nurses had unscheduled visits on a regular day of duty and forty-eight percent were on vacation. Fifty-one percent of home health nurses have experienced traffic accidents and paid penalties (65.9%). Self-reported monthly income level per year was an average of 28,364,000 won. (c) Rates were significantly higher for shoulder pain (61.5%), lower back pain (54.1%), knee pain (39.4%), and gastrointestinal problems (33.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
These baseline results show the importance of improving home health nursing working conditions, a comprehensive prevention system and safeguards from physical discomfort.
Ryu
Hosihn
H
College of Nursing, Korea University.
Jo
Heasook
H
Kim
Yoonok
Y
Yoon
Youngmi
Y
Song
Jongrae
J
Lim
Ji Young
JY
Khim
Soonyong
S
Kim
In-A
IA
D000328:Adult; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D018574:Home Care Agencies; D006699:Home Care Services; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008875:Middle Aged