Digital support in logistics of home-care nurses for disabled and elderly people

Abstract

The paper gives results of possibilities to use information technology organizing the work of health care nurses while working at patients’ homes. Information technology helps to improve care-quality of patients and has positive an economic impact. This paper analyses the results of three studies investigating Estonian healthcare nurses in the workplace. This study was conducted in 2007–2019. Significant changes have taken place in this timeframe. New improvements are possible if the latest information technology is utilized: tablets, mobile phones, wearables, etc. In the countryside, services are more patient-centric, but nurses in rural areas must commute further than care professionals who live in towns. Some Estonian retired people do not have enough resources to live in nursing homes. Instead, the elderly and their families make the economic decision to live at home.