title: Caseload management: an approach to making community needs visible.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the process employed in the development of a population health framework and documentation for managing community nursing caseloads.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  No formal structure exists to validate and link local health information collected by Irish public health nurses to a wider epidemiological framework. Neglect of this bottom up information forfeits opportunities to resource and manage public health nursing services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Action research methods guided the development of the framework in one geographic area in Dublin and 34 participants engaged in Stringer's (1996) Look, Think and Act cycle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The framework identified four patient registers: family health, chronic sick/disability, older adults and acute care, which identify public health outcomes for discussion within the caseload analysis process and can predict risk factors in local populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of the developed documentation identified a framework that describes caseloads in primary care and provides nurse managers with an evidence base to allocate resources, match skill mix to need, and estimate future workforce requirements.
authors: Summerhill Health Centre, Dublin. anne.mcdonald@hse.ie
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: McDonald
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Frazer
authors: Dame Sarah
authors: DS
authors: Cowley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019090:Case Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D004282:Documentation; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D012042:Registries; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012985:Software Design; D016526:Workload