Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this research was to address the working conditions of home health nurses through a nationwide home health agency survey conducted at hospitals. Method: The mail surveys were sent to 303 home health nurses nation wide and returned with a response rate of $71.8\%$. Result: (a) Seventy-five percent of home health agencies were established within the past5 years and half of home health nurses are over 40 years old. (b) Working conditions were considered as follows: Seventy-one percent of respondents were full-time employees, sixty-sixpercent of home health nurses had unscheduled visits on a regular day of duty and forty-eight percent were on vacation. Fifty-one percent of home health nurses have experienced traffic accidents and paid. penalties ($65.9\%$). Self-reported monthly income level per year was an average of 28,364,000 won. (c) Rates were significantly higher for shoulder pain ($61.5\%$), lower back pain ($54.1\%$), knee pain ($39.4\%$), and gastrointestinal problems ($33.0\%$). Conclusion: These baseline results show the importance of improving home health nursing working conditions, a comprehensive prevention system and safeguards from physical discomfort.