Putting on support stockings yourself with this invention saves home care half an hour per address per day | Healthy

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

But how should community nursing do this if even more elderly people arrive? The answer: More clients learn to put on and take off the support stockings themselves. “In the past, people were registered and we went there as standard to help them. But there are so many tools nowadays,” explains community nurse Simone Fonville.

People who have difficulty putting on support stockings often do not have enough strength or cannot bend forward. With a special device – a kind of double stool over which clients can slide the sock – many elderly people manage to put on the stockings themselves. And this can save healthcare organizations a lot of work, researchers from Erasmus MC and healthcare organization Careyn note.

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

Careyn’s community nurse needs to provide almost ten hours less care per week, figures junior researcher Milou Cremers from Erasmus MC. This means that healthcare providers spend twenty percent less time putting on and taking off support stockings. “People have even left care. Then as a healthcare organization you can really save many hours and there will be room to deploy healthcare providers in community nursing for other people who need care at home,” Cremers notes.

Community nurse Fonville notices that there are hardly any new registrations for help putting on and taking off support stockings. “People who already receive home care often do not want to lose it. But new clients like it when they can do things themselves and are not dependent on home care.”

Although there remains 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 problems with the back or shoulder, it becomes very complicated. But even then: we always look at what someone can do themselves.”