Despite popular belief, you don't have to be in a hospital or nursing facility to have a staff of professionals take care of you - the is an alternative called home health care. Essentially, many of the same type of services offered at hospitals can be offered to you at your home through specialized agencies, and often it's more convenient and less expensive for you in the end.
You know that health care, ultimately, is to take care of you after you've been injured or sick. Now, if you can do this at your home, and gain your strength and self-sufficiency back in an environment where you're more comfortable, that would be a great option to exercise.
Some home health care services include: wound care, patient education, nutrition therapy, injections, intravenous therapy, and speech-language therapy. Staff can also monitor serious illness and unstable health status, as well as helping with getting you into and out of bed, helping you bathe and use the bathroom, and doing things like light housekeeping, cooking, shopping, and laundry.
To find agencies available for this type of work, do an internet search and find out if there is anything local, and find out if they provide the exact service to the specifications that you require. Be aware that there are arrangements made between insurers and the agencies, so always ask questions before deciding who to hire.
So when they're there, what should you expect from a home health care team? They should be aware of your diet, your amount of exercise, your blood pressure and heart rate, your breathing, your temperature, and all of your vitals. They should know your medication routines and have them all up to date. They should check on your pain levels and your mental and physical condition every day, if not more often. They will make sure that your home is safe, and they will teach you how to take care of yourself as the process moves forward.
They'll also explain to you what your plan of care is. It's essentially a list of everything you need - what services, by what type of care professional, what equipment they need, how often they need to take care of what parts of your health, and what you should expect when the treatments are complete.
And be sure to ask yourself questions while you are under care. Are they treating you respectfully? Are they explaining why they are doing what they're doing? Are they continually suggesting ways to improve your treatment? Are they putting your mental and physical health first with regard to the service?
Selasa, 31 Oktober 2017
Rabu, 11 Oktober 2017
Will Malpractice Cases Increase for Connecticut's Home Health Care Industry?
Several forces are coming together which will expand the home health care industry in Connecticut.
Governor Malloy is expanding the MFP ( Money Follows the Person) program. This is a federal reform program that aims to reduce the number of patients on Medicaid in expensive institutional healthcare settings. It focuses on moving people out of long-term care facilities and placing them back into their homes where most elderly people prefer to reside. The Connecticut legislature has approved new regulations for the home health care industry that will allow nurses to delegate medication administration to home health aides that are working with patients in their homes. All of these changes are designed to benefit the elderly and to improve quality of life and expand the elderly population that can reside at home with assistance. These are all positive things for health challenged individuals, providing the proper community support is available. This was not the case when the state decided that mental health patients belonged in the community and not in chronic care facilities. Community support was grossly inadequate in the 1980s when the state deinstitutionalized patients from psychiatric hospitals, producing disastrous results for many communities and individuals. Hopefully this most recent plan to transition people into the community has taken into account the need for expanded home health care services.
A second shift in the state's public health policy that has started to effect the home health care industry is in the area of informed risk. Informed risk is basically a policy stating that a person who may not be deemed safe to stay at home is allowed to remain at home as long as patient and family acknowledge that the patient is at greater risk of injury at home as opposed to a facility. It is an honoring of the patient's wishes as opposed to what the agency may feel is the best plan of care for the individual. Up until recently if a person was deemed unsafe in their home environment the home care agency would not support the person remaining at home. In other words they would refuse to provide services. Now the state is promoting keeping people at risk in their homes, providing that they are mentally sound, and they have acknowledged the fact that they are assuming greater risk by staying at home.
Even with good agency oversight it is inevitable that these shifts regarding informed risk and allowing non nurses to give medications will lead to an increase in injuries, accidental overdoses, misuse of medications as well as negligence and/or abuse. Agency staff will need to carefully document risk assessment and delegation of duties. Careful monitoring and good case management will help minimize errors and limit abuse and neglect in this population however the home care industry is certain to have an increase in liability hence the possibility of increasing nursing malpractice claims.
With the first wave of baby boomers starting to retire, the number of senior citizens in Connecticut continues to expand. The need for experienced home health care experts will continue to grow as well.
Governor Malloy is expanding the MFP ( Money Follows the Person) program. This is a federal reform program that aims to reduce the number of patients on Medicaid in expensive institutional healthcare settings. It focuses on moving people out of long-term care facilities and placing them back into their homes where most elderly people prefer to reside. The Connecticut legislature has approved new regulations for the home health care industry that will allow nurses to delegate medication administration to home health aides that are working with patients in their homes. All of these changes are designed to benefit the elderly and to improve quality of life and expand the elderly population that can reside at home with assistance. These are all positive things for health challenged individuals, providing the proper community support is available. This was not the case when the state decided that mental health patients belonged in the community and not in chronic care facilities. Community support was grossly inadequate in the 1980s when the state deinstitutionalized patients from psychiatric hospitals, producing disastrous results for many communities and individuals. Hopefully this most recent plan to transition people into the community has taken into account the need for expanded home health care services.
A second shift in the state's public health policy that has started to effect the home health care industry is in the area of informed risk. Informed risk is basically a policy stating that a person who may not be deemed safe to stay at home is allowed to remain at home as long as patient and family acknowledge that the patient is at greater risk of injury at home as opposed to a facility. It is an honoring of the patient's wishes as opposed to what the agency may feel is the best plan of care for the individual. Up until recently if a person was deemed unsafe in their home environment the home care agency would not support the person remaining at home. In other words they would refuse to provide services. Now the state is promoting keeping people at risk in their homes, providing that they are mentally sound, and they have acknowledged the fact that they are assuming greater risk by staying at home.
Even with good agency oversight it is inevitable that these shifts regarding informed risk and allowing non nurses to give medications will lead to an increase in injuries, accidental overdoses, misuse of medications as well as negligence and/or abuse. Agency staff will need to carefully document risk assessment and delegation of duties. Careful monitoring and good case management will help minimize errors and limit abuse and neglect in this population however the home care industry is certain to have an increase in liability hence the possibility of increasing nursing malpractice claims.
With the first wave of baby boomers starting to retire, the number of senior citizens in Connecticut continues to expand. The need for experienced home health care experts will continue to grow as well.
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