Objectives : Under the rapidly changing healthcare and social environments of individuals with an intractable disease, we identified the current status of supportive activities provided by public health nurses, and challenges in the implementation of seamless support and in the improvement of the quality of support provided by public health nurses.
Methods : A questionnaire survey was conducted by mail among public health nurses stationed at public health centers in Prefecture A, who work with patients with intractable diseases.
Results : The public health nurses surveyed had diverse experiences as to support and clinical care for intractable disease patients, and were in charge of a varying number of such patients within the territory covered by their respective public health stations. As far as knowledge and skill were concerned, not a few public health nurses answered that they were unfamiliar with home mechanical ventilation. They answered that they had experienced difficulties in most aspects of daily practice. Regarding mental health, 50-70% of the public health nurses had experienced difficulties in dealing with patients and their families, and with other healthcare professionals.
Conclusion : Our results suggest that the following main measures are needed to improve the quality of support by public health nurses for patients with intractable neurological diseases: (1) mutual support regarding knowledge and skill among nursing professionals; (2) care in maintaining the mental health of public health nurses; (3) a thorough review of the standard practices and methods of education for public health nurses; and (4) promotion of personnel development focusing on the cultivation of specialized nurses.