GP-support by means of practice assistants and the use of telecare devices in a sparsely populated region in Northern Germany – proof of concept

In this proof of concept, delegation of GP home visits to qualified practice assistants (registered nurses) was examined. Eligible patients were provided with telecare devices to monitor disease-related physiological values.

550 home visits were conducted for 105 patients, 48 of whom used telecare-devices to monitor health parameters. 87.4 per cent of the patients accepted the care as comparable to common GP care. In the course of the project, the GPs delegated an increasing number of both monitoring and interventional tasks to the practice assistants. The GPs agreed that delegating tasks to a qualified practice assistant relieves them in their daily work.

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