[Epidemiology of problems related to drugs and devices in nursing homes in various regions of Italy].
The premises, questions and methodological problems of a multicentre study aimed at describing the epidemiology of patients' problems that require a nursing intervention are described. The main points and methodological challenges are presented and discussed: (a.) the choice of focusing on patients cared for in Nursing homes and districts because a. they are complex, originate very high nursing workload, b. few studies and data from the nursing point of view are produced; c. information on everyday care and problems are lacking, d. they are marginal populations both in research and organization of care; (b.) the need of involving nurses in a surveillance exercise, to increase the attention on problems, their causes and potential avoidability, focusing the attention on problems related to drugs and devices; (c.) the importance-and challenge- of describing what happens in everyday' care, taking in account the variability related to contexts and people. The recognition of a problem is, in fact, related to factors such as the knowledge of the patient and his/her story, the level of knowledge and expertise of the nurse, the attention paid, the context and the organization. The main lessons learned are summarised.
Saiani
Luisa
L
Università degli Studi, Verona.
Di Giulio
Paola
P
Stefanini
Vilma
V
Bacherini
Patrizia
P
Bertocchi
Marta
M
Carri
Stefania
S
Mugnano
Daniela
D
Simonetti
Massimiliano
M
Dindelli
Oretta
O
Cramini
Maddalena
M
Barone
Vladimiro
V
Fantoni
Vilma
V
Sciarra
Vittoria
V
Camelia
Maria
M
Landi
Maurizio
M
Della Fonte
Monica
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005851:Geriatric Nursing; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D012307:Risk Factors; D016526:Workload