Home visiting is an essential part of community health services as many patients are seen in their homes. The home provides opportunities for nursing services, health education, and treatment. Effective home visits require technical skills, knowledge, teaching ability, judgment, and understanding of human relationships. Home visits have many purposes including disease prevention, treatment, comfort, support, use of domestic equipment, and respecting patient beliefs. They must be planned, meet patient needs, be regular, educative, demonstrate hygiene, and develop positive relationships between nurses and families. Home visits have advantages like implementing nursing process, understanding home situations, rendering services at home, building understanding, and clarifying doubts.

1. Introduction
Back bone of community health nursing.
Home visiting is very essential and important
aspect to the community health services, because
majority of the patients are found in the home.
The home is utilised for many reasons in relation
to the health of the family. The home is also
utilised frequently to provide nursing services.
The services in the home requires technical skills,
knowledge of preventive and therapeutic
measures, teaching ability, judgement and a full
understanding of human relations.

2. Definition
1. Home visiting is defined as the delivery of
specialized nursing care services in the home
health care setting.
2. Home Visit Is A Process Of Providing Nursing
Care To Patient Or Family At Their Doorstep.

3. Purposes
Protection against diseases.
Providing essential treatment.
Providing comfort and relief from pain to the
patient.
Giving a support and empathy to the patient and
his family.
Using domestic equipment for the nursing.
Providing health education.
Giving as much respect as possible to the faiths
and beliefs of the family during the procedure

4. Principles of Home visit
1. Home visits should be planned with
purpose.
2. The purpose of home visits should be clear
and must meet the needs of the patients.
3. Home visits should be regular and flexible
4. Home visit should be educative
5. Home visits should give excellent
opportunities for nurses to demonstrate
hygienic principles.
6. Home visit should be convenient,
acceptable and educative to the patients

5. The nurse should make an attempt to include
each family member while using nursing
process.
The nurse and the family must develop positive
interpersonal relationship in their work to
achieve the goal.
The nurse must respect he a ien igh .
Home visits should be recorded in the diary
and family folder

6. Components of Home Visit
Initiation Phase
Pre-visit Activities
Activities during Home Visit
Termination Phase
Post-visit Activities

7. Problems encountered during Home
Visit
Consumes lot of time and energy
Unforeseen events
Non-Acceptance
Problem of local language
Role Confusion

8. Advantages of the Home Visit
Home visit provides an excellent opportunity to
implement the nursing process
Home visits provide an opportunity to study the
home and family situation.
Home visits provide an opportunity to render
service to the family members at their own
surroundings.
Prompt and proper home visits create a good
understanding between nurse and family and
builds good image of nurses.
Home visits clarify the doubts raised by the
family members.

9. Home visits help to observe family practices and
progress of care given by nurses and others.
Home visits help to prevent and handling the
problems.
Home visits help the nurses and family
members to modify the ways of their care.
Home visits are convenient for the patients.
Home visits facilitate patient control of the
setting.
Home visits are the best option for patients
unwilling or unable to travel
Home visits provide natural, environment for
the discussion of concerns and needs.

10. Role of community health nurse in home
nursing:
Recording the history of family to ascertain the
cause and duration of illness.
Providing treatment and related care.
Demonstrating the nursing procedure to educate the
family members.
Giving medicines as per the standing orders and
providing essential nursing care in the grave
situations.

11. Supervising the nursing procedures provided by
family members.
Including the patient himself in taking care of
chronic illness (heart, arthritis, cancer, diabetic
patients, etc) and giving them mental support.

12. Bag technique

13. Qualities of Community Health Nurse
Have respect for life, dignity and rights of people,
and serve them all without regard to race, religion,
Colour, age, Sex, Politics or Social Status.
Have respect for the values, customs and spiritual
beliefs of people.
Do not pass on personal information except to the
right person.
Keep up a high standard of work and personal
conduct.
Maintain a good relationship and Co-Operation
with Coworkers in the health team, and community.

14. Other points which are important for the
health Workers
Always be neat and clean in appearance, and
walk with purpose and good posture. This will
make you feel good and make a good impression
on others.
Take special care of your own health of body
and mind, and set a good example in your
personal life and habits practice what you teach.
Be Cheerful and enthusiastic in your work, and
keep a sense of humour.

15. Be disciplined in your use of time keep up
punctuality
cleanliness and order. Have respect for property
other than your own.
Be obedient to your superior officers (with
intelligence) and uphold their authority. Show
them proper respect, and use correct channels of
communication. Keep to service rules.
Try to understand other people and the reasons
for what they do and say. Be tactful, patient,
sympathetic and kind in your attitude to them.

16. Always be ready to help people with concern and
care, but refuse to receive bribes.
Develop good friendships and interests apart
from your work. Try to have a hobby and healthy
relaxation.
Use every chance to go on learning, by reading
books and journals and newspapers. Also learn
from people who can be helpful to you
personally and to improve your work.
Be disciplined in your spiritual life, in order to
have resources to help others in distress of spirit.

17. Functions of Community Health Nurse
Administration.
Communication.
Nursing.
Teaching.
Research.

18. Job description of Community health
nursing personnel
At district level
DPHNO
Administration and management of nursing and
midwifery services in the district
Supervision and guidance of health supervisors
In-service training programme for nurses

19. Attending to problems referred to her
Participation in Health teaching programmes
Helps in organising community health nursing
field experience for nursing students. Helps in
collection and compiling reports from CHC/PHC
in the district
Conducts field studies.

20. AT CHC LEVEL
COMMUNITY HEALTH NURSE
Direct care provider
Consultant
Teacher and educator
Supervisor and manager
Researcher
Adviser
Advocate
Change agent
Sensitive observer
Collaborator

21. AT PHC LEVEL
COMMUNITH HEALTH NURSE
Health education to the people to promote maintain
and restore their health.
Identification of malnutrition cases by appropriate
measures and provide information regarding food
supply and proper nutrition.
Provide information regarding proper water supply
and basic sanitation.
Immunisation to prevent endemic and epidemic
diseases
Implementation of national health programmes
Treatment of minor ailments
Provision of essential drugs

22. Supervise and guide the health workers in the
delivery of health care services in the community
Arrange group meetings with the leaders and
involve them spreading the message of various
health programmes
Attend staff meetings at PHC
Assess the progress of the health workers
periodically, and submit their assessment
reports to MO, PHC
Conduct MCH and family planning clinics and
carryout educational activities.
Organise and conduct training for dais and
women leaders

23. Personally motivate resistant cases of family
planning
Provide information on the availability of the
services for medical termination of pregnancy
Supervise the spraying of insecticides
Be alert to the sudden outbreak of epidemics of
diseases such as dirrhoea dysentery jaundice
pertusis, tetanus.take all possible remedial
measures
Ensure that all the cases of TB ,Leprosy take
regular and complete treatment and inform the
medical officer of the Chabot any defaulters to
treatment

24. Assist the medical officer in organisation of
family planning camps
ensure that iron and folic acid tablets and
vitamin are distributed to the beneficiaries as
prescribed
collect and compile the weekly reports births
and deaths occurring in his area and submit
them to the MO of PHC .

25. AT SUB CENTRE
ANM
Provide mother and child care, family planning
and immunisation services.
Maintain the maternity record ,register of
antenatal cases eligible couple register children
register up to date
Provide care to the pregnant women throughout
pregnancy
Refer the cases of abnormal pregnancy
Conduct the deliveries

26. Provide at least three post delivery visits and
provide care
Record the vital statistics
Participate in mahila mandal meetings educate
then regarding family welfare programmes
Survey all the families in his area and collect
general information about each village in his
area

27. Identify the cases of malaria, Leprosy, TB refer the
cases to the medical officer PHC and check whether
all the cases are taking regular treatment.
educate the community on appropriate method of
waste disposal
chlorinate the public water sources including wells
at regular intervals.
Provide follw-up services family planning acceptors.