Evolution of the dependents hospitalized in convalescence units

Abstract

Introduction: The convalescence units (CU) of the National Network for Continuous Care (NNCC) are a health resort whose main objective is to promote the autonomy reconstruction for dependent people. Objectives: 1) To know the evolution of the dependents hospitalized in CU; 2) identify significant relationships among the main variables defining the dependents health profile. Methods: An exploratory study of quantitative and longitudinal profile. The sample includes all the dependents hospitalized in two CU of the coverage area of a Local Coordinator Team at Health Center Cluster of northern Portugal (N = 124), referenced in the timeline of March 1 to July 31, 2014. Applied the form “Profile of the dependents Integrated on Care Providers of the NNCC” on admission and at clinic discharge. Results: The most referenced medical diagnoses were osteoarthrosis/arthropathy/hip fracture (41.9%) and stroke (31.5%). Of the 97 cases in the sample in which it was possible to assess the level of dependency and bodily processes, between admission and clinic discharge: 1) 1% worsened, 3.1% remained and 95.9% improved the dependency level; 2) 6.2% worsened, 17.5% remained and 76.3% improved bodily processes. The overall average of the “dependent autonomy reconstruction potential” and “family caregiver potential to take care” were respectively, 20.3 and 35.4. Performed tests of inferential analysis statistically significant between the main variables of the study. Conclusions: The results of this study confirm the importance of the work done by health professionals at CU, where nurses play an important role in rebuilding the dependents autonomy.