Purpose: To describe how organizational background impacts on care networks of visiting nurse agencies.
Methods: A questionnaire was sent to all visiting nurse agencies (3,178) in Japan, and 1,548 responded. Questions were asked about the agency's background, management system, and cooperation with other community care agencies.
Findings: Seventy-nine percent of visiting nurse agencies were affiliated to medical organizations consisting of hospitals, clinics, or medical nursing facilities, The exceptions cooperated with various types of community service agencies, including home care agencies, assisted device agencies, housing improvement agencies, or volunteer services. The visiting nurse agencies had more frequent contact with housing improvement agencies when home care aid agencies were included within the same organizations. The results suggest that visiting nurse agencies can be divided into two types with reference to the long-term care insurance system. One has strong cooperative relationships with hospitals, and the other with community care agencies.