Development of a Recording System for Home Health Care for Postpartum Women and Their Newborns

Kim, Hea Sook

doi:1996.2.1.21

J Korean Acad Women Health Nurs > Volume 2(1); 1996 > Article

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Women's Health Nursing 1996;2(1):21-35.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.1996.2.1.21

Development of a Recording System for Home Health Care for Postpartum Women and Their Newborns

Hea Sook Kim

College of Nursing Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The Korean government has a new system for charging patient care for patients in hospital, on hold for the present(9 / 1995) but to start implementation in certain areas of patient care next year. From the latter half of next year the Ministry of Health and Welfare would like to start demonstration projects for hospitals who want to start using DRGs for frequently seen medical diagnosis and for patients with a course that is predictable and for whom non-insurance costs are minimal : such as the patient who has a delivery, cesarean deliveries, cataract surgery, tonsillectomy or an appendectomy, and apply the DRG system of payment for hospital care for these patients. The purpose of this study was to establish a recording system to give effective home health care to postpartum women and their newborns. Recently the government announced a DRG system to apply to postpartum women for pilot purposes starting next year. This gives impetus to the need to develop home care records that will allow for systematic recording and provide continuity and consistency in care across all health professionals and with in-depth communication between the professions to assure high quality care. There has been a rise in medical costs and a shortage of patient bed space in hospitals, particularly since the introduction of national medical insurance. The study focused on developing client selection criteria, a primary assessment tool, progress notes and nursing diagnoses applicable to postpartum and newborn clients. Selection criteria for home health care, assessment tool content, nurses progress notes and diagnoses were developed through a review of the literature, advice from professionals who are expert in home health care and actual practice in the use of recording tools through workshops. The recommendations based on the research results are as follows : 1) Replication and application of these tools is needed to test the validity of the tools 2) In order to have systematic nursing records standardization of records has to be done after nurses have had experience using them. 3) Reliability and validity of the tools has to be established through applicability to actual care situation.