Wearing support stockings yourself using this invention saves you half an hour of home care per address per day | correct

Hundreds of thousands of people use support stockings to prevent fluid buildup and improve circulation. The elderly, in particular, receive a community nurse twice a day to help them put on and take off their socks. This costs healthcare providers about half an hour per day per client.

But how should community nursing do this if more older people arrive? Answer: More clients are learning how to put on and take off support stockings on their own. “In the past, people were registered and we would go there to help them. “But there are a lot of tools nowadays,” explains community nurse Sabine Fonville.

People who have difficulty wearing support stockings often do not have enough strength or cannot bend forward. Using a special device—a type of double chair that clients can slide a sock onto—many seniors are able to put on socks themselves. This could save healthcare organizations a lot of work, as noted by researchers from Erasmus MC and healthcare organization Careyn.

For a year now, customers in Utrecht have been going first for a special consultation hour on storage support. An occupational therapist examines what clients need to get without home care. For nine out of ten elderly people, a solution can be found, says occupational therapist Klaski Jongsma. Sometimes, all that's needed is a pocket, which makes it easier for the foot to slide into the sock. An electronic device must be provided to other customers.

A Karen community nurse needs to provide approximately ten hours of care per week, according to junior researcher Milo Cremers from Erasmus MC. After the transition, healthcare providers spend twenty percent less time putting on and taking off support stockings. “People have dropped out of care. “Then as a health care organization, you can really save a lot of hours and there will be room to deploy health care providers into community nursing for other people who need care at home,” notes Cremers.

The Fonville Community Nurse noted that there were almost no new sign-ups for help putting on and taking off support stockings. “People who already receive home care often don't want to lose it. But new clients like that they can do things themselves and not rely on home care.

Although there is still a group that really needs care, such as people with dementia or multiple physical complaints. Jongsma: “If someone is paralyzed on one side and also has back or shoulder problems, it becomes very complicated. But even in this case: we always look at what the person can do on his own.