Abstract

• Purpose
  The purpose of this research was to address the working conditions of home health nurses through a nationwide home health agency survey conducted at hospitals.
• Methods
  The mail surveys were sent to 303 home health nurses nation wide and returned with a response rate of 71.8%.
• Results
  (a) Seventy-five percent of home health agencies were established within the past5 years and half of home health nurses are over 40 years old. (b) Working conditions were considered as follows: Seventy-one percent of respondents were full-time employees, sixty-sixpercent of home health nurses had unscheduled visits on a regular day of duty and forty-eight percent were on vacation. Fifty-one percent of home health nurses have experienced traffic accidents and paid penalties (65.9%). Self-reported monthly income level per year was an average of 28,364,000 won. (c) Rates were significantly higher for shoulder pain (61.5%), lower back pain (54.1%), knee pain (39.4%), and gastrointestinal problems (33.0%).
• Conclusion
  These baseline results show the importance of improving home health nursing working conditions, a comprehensive prevention system and safeguards from physical discomfort.
• Keywords: Home care agencies; Hospital based home cares

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