Studio osservazionale dell’Assistenza Infermieristica Domiciliare in Italia-AIDOMUS-IT: condizione lavorativa, cure mancate e le esperienze degli assistiti

Introduction The increase in the number of elderly patients requiring home care highlights the need for adequate care knowledge to guide healthcare policies. In Italy, home nursing care activity or patient experiences have not yet been described. Objectives To describe the characteristics of nurses and patients involved in home nursing care. Materials and methods Descriptive observational study conducted in 18 Italian regions. Between April and October 2023, data from nurses and patients involved in home care were collected through two surveys. Psychosocial conditions in workplaces, missed care, and care experiences were assessed through validated tools. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations were performed. Results 45 local healthcare units were included in this study, with a total of 2549 nurses and 4709 patients recruited. Nurses (mean age 46.60; 79.48% female; 44.68% regional nursing diploma as the highest qualification) reported low perceived criticality at work (42.37; SD = 12.25; range = 0-100) and a high average number of missed care (5.11; SD = 3.19; range 0-9). Most nurses (83.41%) reported high job satisfaction, while 20.28% of them reported an intention to leave their job. Patients (mean age 75.18; 57.57% female; 36.95% primary school), on the other hand, rated the care received positively (8.23; range = 0-10). Discussion and conclusions Despite the perceived criticality at work and some missed care reported, the satisfaction of nurses and patients was high. These data represent a preliminary picture of the phenomena studied, which will be investigated through more in-depth analyses. Key words: Home nursing; workload; missed care; quality of health care; workforce.