Isabelle Heyden

The Activity Profile of Home Nurses A Systematic Review

The role of home nurses as providers of health care has changed and will continue to change. To guide appropriate decision making and future policy planning, it is important to have a clear picture of the activity profile of home nurses. A systematic literature review was conducted in the databases Cinahl, Cochrane, Embase, and Medline for the literature published between January 1990 and November 2013. Nine reports were identified: six quantitative studies and three literature reviews. Home nurses provide multidimensional care. However, a glaring omission in these reports was a consideration of the physiological aspects of home care. This is probably due to the questionable validity of existing nursing intervention classification schemes and the lack of scientific evidence on technical and complex interventions in home nursing care.