Aim of the study was to investigate the present demand for in-patient nursing care service in Kaunas city. Methods: Analysis of the medical documents (patient’s file) and waiting lists at 4 Kaunas city nursing and supportive care hospitals was done: patients were studied according to their age, location, social and medical indications for hospitalization and their repeated registration on the waiting list. Microsoft Excel program and SPSS statistical package was used to analyze the results. The results: 95 per of patients in nursing and supportive care institution and 94,7 per those on the waiting lists are Kaunas citizenry. Examination of medical diagnoses of hospitalized patients revealed the neurological disease as a common: encephalophathy - 34,4 per and stroke – 18,4 per. 23,6 per of patients with post-stroke diagnosis and 19,5 per of oncology patients are on the waiting list. 36,1 per of patients at hospital were at the age of 81 - 90 y. Children take care of 57,5 per of the hospital patients, the strangers – of 12,7 per. The long waiting list for entering nursing and supportive care institution revealed the great demand for in-patient nursing care service in Kaunas city: 1845 names were put on it at the period of 1st of June, 2003 to 31st of May, 2004. However, double, treble or even fourfold registration of the same patient makes this statistic doubtful. After the additional selection of names the more realistic waiting lists consisted of 1441. 154 patients from... [to full text]