A randomized controlled study of a home health care team

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11030188
AutoresJ G Zimmer, A Groth-Juncker, Annemarie Groth‐Juncker, Jane McCusker (0000-0002-8753-8262)
Año1985
Volumen75
Número2
Páginas134-141
Fecha de publicación1985-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
EditorialAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.75.2.134
PMID3966617
OpenAlexW2164402909
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas15

This report describes the findings of a randomized study of a new team approach to home care for homebound chronically or terminally ill elderly. The team includes a physician, nurse practitioner, and social worker delivering primary health care in the patient's home, including physician house calls. Weekly team conferences assure coordination of patient care. The team is available for emergency consultation through a 24-hour telephone service. The team physician attends to the patient during necessary hospitalizations. This approach was evaluated in a randomized experimental design study measuring its impact on health care utilization, functional changes in patients, and patient and caretaker satisfaction. The team patients had fewer hospitalizations, nursing home admissions, and outpatient visits than the controls. They were more often able to die at home, if this was their wish. As expected, they used more in-home services, measured in weighted cost figures; their overall cost was lower than their controls, but the difference was not statistically significant. Their functional abilities did not change differently from the controls, but they, and especially their informal caretakers in the home, expressed significantly higher satisfaction with the care received

Emergency department · Family medicine · Health care · House call · Medical emergency · MEDLINE · Patient satisfaction · Randomized controlled trial · Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Medicine · Nursing · Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare