National Journal of Community Medicine (Jul 2019)
Do Nursing Health Care Providers (HCPs) Face Difficulties in Treating the Rural Populations of South India?
Abstract
Introduction: Our study was aimed at studying the perspectives of nursing health care workers (HCPs) regarding the burden of Diabetes, Hypertension and Cardiovascular diseases that they had to deal with and the barriers faced by them in providing care for patients with NCD . Methodology: Qualitative methods for the in-depth interviews to elicit information of each of the nursing healthcare workers was done. Results: A total of 14 in-depth interviews were conducted. Each HCPs was introduced to a separate discussion and were further stratified based on the qualification/position they held in the hospital. The Healthcare providers were primarily specialised in maternity care, although the hospital did cater to General medical cases .Each session lasted 30 min to 1 hour. Themes identified were -High burden of illness and type of patient care, Barriers to good health and unexplored boundaries. Conclusion: NCDs are a burden on the fast growing societies in India. There is lack of HCPs in treating such NCDs. Many barriers to treating NCDs exist and lack of Indian Protocols for a rural population limits the quality of care to patients. HCPs face many difficulties which in turn increases the gap in the care to the patients.
