Enhancing the hospital at home experience
Background Hospital at Home programs have demonstrated to be safe, feasible and cost effective. However, challenges such as infection control, cleanliness, space constraints and insufficient resources may hamper the adoption and effectiveness of such programs. Aims To understand the challenges of pr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20101058231209200 |
| _version_ | 1827771479142432768 |
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| author | Rachel Marie Towle Peijin Esther Monica Fan Juweita Arba’in Fazila Aloweni Siew Hoon Lim Shin Yuh Ang Su-Fee Lim |
| author_facet | Rachel Marie Towle Peijin Esther Monica Fan Juweita Arba’in Fazila Aloweni Siew Hoon Lim Shin Yuh Ang Su-Fee Lim |
| author_sort | Rachel Marie Towle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Hospital at Home programs have demonstrated to be safe, feasible and cost effective. However, challenges such as infection control, cleanliness, space constraints and insufficient resources may hamper the adoption and effectiveness of such programs. Aims To understand the challenges of providing and receiving healthcare in the community, design a solution to meet the challenges, and to pilot and evaluate the solution. Methods This is a three-phase mixed method study. Phase 1, nurses, patients and caregivers were surveyed to understand their challenges in providing or receiving healthcare at home. Results of the survey in Phase 1 were used in Phase 2 to design a solution. In phase 3, an integrated structure was designed and piloted for stakeholders’ evaluation. Results Twenty nurses and 50 patient-caregiver dyads responded to Phase 1 survey. Physical home environment was most cited by the nurses as their main challenge, particularly the lack of a dedicated and clean space to conduct nursing procedures. Medication management was the greatest challenge faced by the patient-caregiver dyads. Based on these findings, a prototype of an integrated structure was fabricated in Phase 2. Ten patient-caregiver dyads and nine community nurses tested the prototype in Phase 3. The participants found the structure useful to store and organize their healthcare items, and there was ample clean workspace to carry out nursing procedures. Conclusion An integrated structure that can fulfil the physical, spatial and interpersonal needs at an affordable price could be useful in facilitating the delivery of hospital care in the home setting. Patient Contribution Patient-caregiver dyads were key stakeholders in our study. They provided valuable feedback and suggestions on the prototype and design of the integrated structure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:54:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c254ac70b79445adb404b8d3d1824027 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2059-2329 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:54:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-c254ac70b79445adb404b8d3d18240272023-11-03T21:03:20ZengSAGE PublishingProceedings of Singapore Healthcare2059-23292023-10-013210.1177/20101058231209200Enhancing the hospital at home experienceRachel Marie TowlePeijin Esther Monica FanJuweita Arba’inFazila AloweniSiew Hoon LimShin Yuh AngSu-Fee LimBackground Hospital at Home programs have demonstrated to be safe, feasible and cost effective. However, challenges such as infection control, cleanliness, space constraints and insufficient resources may hamper the adoption and effectiveness of such programs. Aims To understand the challenges of providing and receiving healthcare in the community, design a solution to meet the challenges, and to pilot and evaluate the solution. Methods This is a three-phase mixed method study. Phase 1, nurses, patients and caregivers were surveyed to understand their challenges in providing or receiving healthcare at home. Results of the survey in Phase 1 were used in Phase 2 to design a solution. In phase 3, an integrated structure was designed and piloted for stakeholders’ evaluation. Results Twenty nurses and 50 patient-caregiver dyads responded to Phase 1 survey. Physical home environment was most cited by the nurses as their main challenge, particularly the lack of a dedicated and clean space to conduct nursing procedures. Medication management was the greatest challenge faced by the patient-caregiver dyads. Based on these findings, a prototype of an integrated structure was fabricated in Phase 2. Ten patient-caregiver dyads and nine community nurses tested the prototype in Phase 3. The participants found the structure useful to store and organize their healthcare items, and there was ample clean workspace to carry out nursing procedures. Conclusion An integrated structure that can fulfil the physical, spatial and interpersonal needs at an affordable price could be useful in facilitating the delivery of hospital care in the home setting. Patient Contribution Patient-caregiver dyads were key stakeholders in our study. They provided valuable feedback and suggestions on the prototype and design of the integrated structure.https://doi.org/10.1177/20101058231209200 |
| spellingShingle | Rachel Marie Towle Peijin Esther Monica Fan Juweita Arba’in Fazila Aloweni Siew Hoon Lim Shin Yuh Ang Su-Fee Lim Enhancing the hospital at home experience Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare |
| title | Enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| title_full | Enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| title_fullStr | Enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| title_short | Enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| title_sort | enhancing the hospital at home experience |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20101058231209200 |
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