Basics of Home Health Care and its Benefits

Basics of Home Health Care and its Benefits : Home health care is medical care provided wherever your home may be. It is usually less expensive, more convenient, and just as effective as care you get in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.

What is home health care all about?

Here’s how it happens

Your doctor decides that you need medical care at home, perhaps you’re returning from the hospital or after an illness or surgery or you’re already home but you need a little more help staying well and strong
Your home health care provider works with your doctor, to order the special services you need and assembles your care team. Then the nurses and therapists come to your house. You’ll learn new exercises, skills and facts that can help you better manage a chronic illness or get back on your feet, and with the help of your home health care team you can meet your health goals and stay out of the hospital, safe and independent at home.

How home health care may benefit.

Sometimes when patients are discharged from a hospital nursing home or rehabilitation center, they’re still very sick. A doctor for further treatment can prescribe these patients to home health care. A doctor may also ask home care services for someone who is dependent, disabled or living with a chronic illness. A home health services company will send licensed healthcare professionals to visit a patient at home a few days a week usually for about an hour. The home health care team supports and monitors patients and helps them to able and manage care for themselves, so they can heal safely at home.

There are a range of services that a doctor can ask the homecare company to provide. For instance,

This may include assistance with medicines, wound care, education about diet or activity to better control your disease symptoms, or handling IV treatments at home. A doctor may order IV drug therapy at home. Homecare nurses teach patients or loved ones to manage IV therapy on their own. Skilled nursing could be anything from teaching medication, it could be administering an actual IV therapy, and it could be going over signs and symptoms education. It is for making sure that patient is safe at home and have the things that are needed. It involves assessing the safety of the patient and to make sure that if there’s no area that could be a trip hazard and have the potential risk of making patient fall. To look if patient’s home have fire extinguishers and other safety devices in the occurrence of mishap. To double account for medications patient have is enough of a 30-day supply. For patients who need skilled nursing, they can also get help from a home health aide.

Another service is rehabilitation like physical, occupational, and speech therapy. This may include a exercise plan, or managing activities of daily living.

Homecare companies may also provide medical social workers. Social workers helps patient to become independent and assess the patient’s ability to live well in their safe lifestyle. They may help a patient find support in the community like in adult day care. These team members assist with personal care, like bathing or grooming.

There are a few important things you should know about home care.

It must be prescribed by a doctor, after accessing the patient in a face-to-face meeting in order to qualify.

It is not long-term care. When the homecare team determines that a patient has reached maximum potential, the patient will be discharged.

Home care is part-time and intermittent – patients receive visits just a few times a week for about an hour. The patient must be confined to the home, meaning it is very difficult to leave the home and travel.

Home health care services can be of different types, but the goal of it is to always help people be healthy, independent and to help them heal safely at home.