EVALUATION OF A NEWLY INTRODUCED COMMUNITY NURSE SERVICE IN GERMANY

Introduction and Objective: Like many other contries, Germany is facing a progressive shortage of General Practitioners (GPs) in rural regions parallel with demographic changes leading to an increased demand for primary care. We evaluated the acceptance, processes and effects of newly introduced community nurses in several villages in Germany Method: Due to an initiative in a village with local sponsoring in this and three neighbouring villages belonging to a small City in the centre of Germany, a community nurse project was introduced. It aimed at improvement of health services and social care of the polulation as well as reduction of workload of local GPs. In a mixed methods design, we evaluated the processes quantitatively and qualitatively. We also analyzed the number of home visits and practice contacts with GPs and quality of life of participants in comparison to matched controls of inhabitants of comparable villages in this region without this service. Results and Conclusions: Mainly inhabitants 60years and older attended the nurse’s offices. In most cases, blood pressure, weight or blood glucose were controlled or there were discussions about health problems. Futher, the nurses organized regular common meals and invited experts to discuss special problems like healthy eating, safety at home, advise about intakte of medications, which were well accepted, each. 45 Persons who had attended the community nurse’s office and 56 from the control region could be recruited for our in-depth evaluation which can be presented during the congress. We will also show the views of the GPs and the nurses.