PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION OF COMBATANTS AND WAR VICTIMS: THE ROLE OF THE NURSE IN A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM

Abstract

Introduction. Psychosocial rehabilitation is an important element of the recovery of military personnel affected by military operations, adaptation, and return to normal life for veterans and The provision of psychological and social assistance in Ukraine is regulated at the state level but does not meet the growing needs in the context of the ongoing war. Therefore, an important task is to involve nurses in multidisciplinary teams and expand their powers to improve the quality of the rehabilitation process.

The aim of the study – to analyze the literature on the functions of a nurse/nurse’s assistant in a multidisciplinary team for the rehabilitation of combatants in Europe and the United States. To determine the role of the nurse/nurse’s assistant in the psychosocial rehabilitation of military personnel at the inpatient stage, to propose ways to solve them.

The main part. The study included 45 male servicemen, aged 18 to 53 years, with an average age of (32.5±0.3) years, undergoing rehabilitation treatment for injuries of varying severity at the MCCC “MLSHD” and formed Group I. An online survey of the respondents of the 1st research group was conducted on the Google Forms platform using a questionnaire that we specially developed (contains 12 questions, which were used to assess the quality of the provision of medical and rehabilitation services in the medical institution, the attitude of the staff of the departments to the patients, the role of the nurse in improving their health). The second research group included 15 female nurses, aged 18 to 56 years, engaged in the treatment and rehabilitation of inpatients in this institution. An online survey was conducted using a specially designed questionnaire on the Google-Forms platform, which included 12 questions to find out their functions in the rehabilitation process, the main difficulties in working with military personnel and war victims, and the need to expand their powers and improve their skills as part of a multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation team. The Law of Ukraine “On Rehabilitation in the Healthcare Sector” provides for the participation of nurses/nursing assistants in rehabilitation teams and the provision of rehabilitation care independently by an individual rehabilitation plan, but nursing staff do not have specialized education in the provision of rehabilitation services and face difficulties in working with military personnel and war victims.

Conclusions. The results of the study indicate a significant role of the nurse as an independent member of a multidisciplinary team in the rehabilitation process of military personnel and victims of hostilities at the inpatient stage. The problematic issues are studied and practical recommendations are developed to improve the quality of medical and rehabilitation services at the inpatient stage of rehabilitation.