For some patients, receiving medical care in a hospital can be unknown, stressful and even scary. Combining medical care at hospital level with the ability to recover in the comfort of Home, Hospital@Thuis and the team of community paramedics offer new opportunities for patients to get the professional care they need in a safe, familiar environment.
Hospital@Home Medical Director Dr. Chrisanne Timpe and director Tia Radant talk about the program, including how it works and the patients for which it is perfect. By sharing success stories, as well as impressive statistics, the directors describe how the involvement of community paramedics maps a new course for effective and inclusive health care. Listen to the episode or read the transcript.
Hospital@Home – What it is and for who it is
Such as Dr. Timpe it describes, hospital@at home ‘care at hospital level, but in the comfort of someone’s house’. Patients who receive care are those who would normally receive in a physical hospital. Instead, Hospital@Home “brings the medicines, the sustainable medical equipment, the clinicians (s) the expertise for the patient in their home.” Or, as TIA describes it, Hospital@Home “is a virtual unit … like an extra floor from the hospital, and every room on that floor looks like someone’s living room.”
Hospital@Home is not for everyone. “We don’t bring intensive care to your house,” explains Tia. “We do not bring a surgical suite to your house, but many patients spending time in a physical physical hospital are in a bed that is cared for by a team and has a doctor who takes daily medical decisions for that care. And that part can be replicated in the house. “In other words, many patients who are safe and get up at home and be able to take care of themselves, but still need care at hospital level, are great candidates for Hospital@Thuis.
Success stories and statistics
During the episode Dr. says Timpe that those who benefit from hospital@home are the most ‘people with any kind of sensory shortage, so dementia, blindness, hearing loss and physical disability. People who have learned to adapt to those challenges in their community and thrive in their homes, tend to do it really well in this program because they can receive their acute care and cannot do the liberties of the lives of their lives be denied as they would like. “
For a real-life example, instead of placing someone with an infection that was completely blind in an unknown hospital environment, they could recover in their own house. Because they knew where everything was and could perform daily tasks, they were more active while they felt safer and more involved – which led to a healthier result faster.
Hospital@Home has also proved to be a better option for people with dementia. Such as Dr. Timpe describes: “In the past, when they have been admitted to the hospital, the results are pretty terrible. People will be deconditioned because they are not allowed to move that much. “Disruptions of sleep cycles and increased agitation can result in“ what a 48 -hour stay for an infection (to change) should have been in a stay of a week … Trying to unravel a delirium that is really harmful to the general ( Health) of a patient.
And although that is only the start of the real-life examples of the program’s success, there is also objective proof of hospital@Thuis that improves the health of its patients. According to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), programs from 2020-2023 programs such as Hospital@Home have contributed to lower takeover rates and considerably lower transfer percentages from the elderly to competent nursing facilities (1.2% for home care to 20% for physical hospital care). That is a supplement to Zero in the hospital acquired infections, no pressure ulcers or beds, and only two small falls on more than 900 hospital@home recordings since the program started.
The role of community paramedics
The key to the success of Hospital@Home is the involvement of paramedics of the community. With a more extensive practical range of standard EMS paramedics, the Paramedic team of the Hospital@Home Community Training has about what TIA calls “life triage” -chronic disease management, need for assessment, social determinants, navigating through care and more. Together with their emergency expertise, these additional skills make it possible for the paramedics of the team to also see priorities and situations from the patient’s point of view, giving them access to the resources and items that patients need, including clinical care, medical equipment and community assistance.
Through the Pandemic era from public health loss that contributed to creating the Hospital@Home Program, paramedics are recognized as more than caregivers during ambulance transport. Now they are also seen as acute care providers who are valuable partners for nurses and hospital staff.
As Tia tells: “Five years ago I am not sure how many hospital doctors know what a paramedician was, let alone a paramedic of the community … so we have this really neat dynamics where the EMS medical director still has medical direction offers paramedics, but the decision -making of daily care is a partnership between the paramedician and the hospital doctor … There is a lot of great professional development that comes from this, and I fully expect it to grows. “
To hear more about Hospital@Home, including how the program started, the success for patients with congestive heart failure, the high level of job satisfaction for program lentents and more, listen to this episode of Off The Charts.
