Knowledge level of patients and their relatives applying to the neurology and medical oncology polyclinics of Ankara City Hospital about home healthcare services

Introduction: Home healthcare services are an increasingly important issue for the world and our country. Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, aging of the population, development of home care technologies, development of early discharge from hospitals increase the need for home healthcare services. Although the number of people / families receiving home healthcare services has increased, they still cannot work at a sufficient level and efficiency. With this research, our aim is to increase the awareness of patients and their relatives about home healthcare, to see their level of knowledge on the subject, and to make appropriate planning in order to eliminate information gaps, if any. Material and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study conducted by distributing questionnaires to patients and their relatives who applied to Ankara City Hospital Medical Oncology and Neurology outpatient clinics between January 2020 and March 2020. 330 patients / relatives were included in the study. The data were used in SPSS Statistics 20 program and p <0.05 was accepted as the statistical significance limit. Results: The average age of the participants in the study was 44.58. When the educational status was examined, there were 49.24% (n: 162) of our participants with the highest education level of university and above. It was observed that 54.88% (n: 180) of the participants were equal to their income and expense. Most of our participants were patient relatives with 68.08% (n: 224). 45.6% (n: 47) of the participants were receiving treatment in the oncology clinic and 54.4% (n: 56) in the neurology clinic. Most of our participants have heard of home healthcare services (79.7%). Participants who heard about ESH stated that they mostly heard about home healthcare services thanks to the healthcare personnel (58%), while 40.3% stated that they heard it from TV, radio and internet in the second place. 43.2% of the participants (n: 142) were the ones whose family physicians gave information about home healthcare services before. 27.6% of the participants (n: 91) stated that they benefit from home health services. It was observed that the participants who used home healthcare services mostly (29.7%) benefited from home healthcare services due to drug reports. 87.2% of the participants (n: 272) stated that they want to benefit from home health services when they need it. The percentage of correct answers to the question of who can benefit from home healthcare services was high. When the expectations of the participants from home health services are examined; While the most expectation was 81.81% (n: 270) to prescribe patients' medications and to arrange their medication reports by home health, the lowest expectation was to have a dental examination [26.97% (n: 89)]. Participants knew from which institutions they could get home healthcare services and how to apply. When we ask the participants about their opinions about the services provided by home health services; The proposition with the least correct answer was the statement "It intervenes in emergency situations" with a rate of 36.36% (n: 120). The second least correct answer was the statement "Home health care provides oral and dental health services" with a rate of 38.18%. In the answers given to various propositions about home healthcare services, in the proposition "Home healthcare comes home on the same day", the rates of correct, incorrect and I don't know answers were close to each other. Correct response rates to other propositions were high. When we compared the survey results as those who benefit from home healthcare services and those who do not, a statistically significant difference was observed in many areas. Benefiting from home healthcare services increased the knowledge level of the participants. It was observed that the economic situation and education level did not make a difference in the level of knowledge about home health services. When we compared the participants who previously received information about home health services from the family doctor and did not, it was seen that the knowledge level of those who received information about home health services from their family physician increased statistically significantly. Discussion and Conclusion: When we looked at the general of the participants, we saw that they had an idea about home health services. We have seen that there is no difference in many areas according to the economic situation and education level. Participants who graduated from primary education were seen as more knowledgeable in most of the areas where statistically significant difference was observed according to education level. Participants with primary education are more likely to need home healthcare services. The knowledge levels of the participants who used home health services and those who received information about home health services from their family physicians were higher than those who did not benefit from home health services and those who did not receive information about home health services from their family doctor. This result shows the importance of educating about home health services. The low level of knowledge in some of the statements of the participants informed by the family physicians about home health services made us think that the level of knowledge of the health personnel about home health services was not sufficient. Healthcare personnel, as well as patients and their relatives, should be trained on home health services. Keywords: Family physcian, family medicine, home healthcare, oncology, neurology