Advantages of Home Hospitalization

Although home care services have grown tremendously, most people are not very clear about this service. As a structured company with home care services, it does more. Hospital home health services help youth, adults, seniors, and children recovering from a hospital stay or who need additional care to follow treatment at home and avoid an unnecessary hospital stay.

This model has grown so much because people's life expectancy has grown exponentially in the last century, and it is expected that they can age with a very good quality of life. Another reason is that medical technology has developed enough to allow complex treatments at home. Also, many diseases that were once fatal have become chronic due to the development of medication, for example, AIDS and some cancers.

In these cases mentioned and in many more, staying in the hospital does not make sense if there is a way to be cared for at home, with all the advantages this option has.

Home hospitalization: treatment or recovery is medically supervised in the patient's home rather than in an inpatient hospital or clinic. There is always a doctor in charge of the care and is accompanied by nurses and care staff like those who work in a hospital.

Home care after hospitalisation offers multiple benefits to the health system, such as the greater availability of beds for emergencies or reduced total costs. Still, in this article, home health care will focus on the benefits and advantages that this model offers patients and their families.

1- It is appropriate for many types of patients and of any age

It is a system that solves the medical care needs of:

• Chronic decompensated patients (COPD, heart disease, diabetes, cirrhosis, cancer, etc.)

• Patients with acute processes are mainly infectious (pneumonia, urinary tract infections, endocarditis, osteoarticular and soft tissue infections, etc.)

• Recovery from surgeries (hip replacement, breast surgery, laparotomy, coronary bypass, etc.)

• Accidents and complicated wound healing

• Long-term intravenous treatments

• Patients who need parenteral nutrition

2- The patient remains in his environment and recovers more quickly

Being at home with unlimited access to loved ones gives the older family member the best chance for a full recovery. The flexibility of schedules at home produces less stress, which translates into faster physical and psychological healing.

3- Hospitalization at home is cheaper

It can cost several times less than staying in the hospital for the same amount of time in some cases. Costs of hospital transfers for family members are also avoided such as in the case of hospitalized children where the mother or father often has to move nears the hospital for long periods.

4- Reduces the risk of hospital infections

Getting an infection while staying in hospitals or clinics is common. According to the World Health Organization, almost 9% of hospitalized patients will contract an infection that they did not have before admission and were not incubating. Geriatric patients, immune suppressed patients, those receiving chemotherapy and infants are more susceptible to these infections and complications. Staying at home in these cases is the best option since the patient will not be in contact with sick people.

5- The patient does not care about those who stayed at home

During a hospital stay, both the patient and the family caregiver endure an extra dose of stress due to concern for the rest of the family at home. Parents worry about the children left at home and must find caregivers for them. Older adults are often stressed about who will care for their pets and about the safety of the house. These concerns threaten the patient's recovery and are perfectly avoidable when home health care is chosen.