What is Home Health Care?
Introduction to Home Health Care
Taking care of the elderly and family members with handicaps can be really tough and time consuming which can interfere with the other members trying to earn a living and improve the family’s livelihood. Home care services support services provided by hospitals and health institutions to relieve some of the stress on the family. Home care is provided at the client or patient’s place, opposite to that of nursing homes or retirement homes where the patients relocate. Home health care has numerous types of activities, procedures and treatments that the patients/clients can choose from based on their needs.
Home care services don’t just deal with treatment of illnesses or injuries, it also offers services for emotional support such as companionship so that the client/patient doesn’t feel lonely. These services might include:-
● Help in dressing up and bathing
● Companionship (living together creating a friendly environment)
● Therapy
● Chores of the household
● Caring for ill patient for a long or short while
Types of Home Health Care
There is a long list of health home care services offered today. They can be either physical care or emotional care depending upon the situation of the patient/client.
From nursing to medical care, all the services that you can think about can be availed. Some types of services offered today are:-
● Doctor home care– Doctor visits to the patient’s home for treatment or check ups is a common service which is offered by hospitals and health care institutions.
● Nurse care– Professional and licensed nurses can be employed after consultation with a doctor. Their activity can include from wound dressing to health support and monitoring pain and relief of the patient.
● Physical/ occupational or speech therapy– Some clients may need recuperation and need to re-learn certain tasks like walking, talking, etc. Nurses may be hired for effective relearning of these tasks under professional care.
● Medical social services– These services provide relocating and providing resources to the less fortunate patients who are in dire need of help. They also provide treatments .
● Home health aides– These aides provide the patient/client with help to do daily tasks such as getting out of bed, changing clothes, taking a bath, making and eating food, etc.
● Homemaker– The services of a homemaker requires them to cook, clean, do the laundry, get groceries, etc, based on the requirements of the home.
● Companionship– These services are provided in order to provide affection and comfort to the clients so that they don’t feel lonely or left out based on their situation. This also provides supervision on the emotional health of the patient/client.
● Volunteer– Volunteers can be from anywhere from a school to an NGO, who provide emotional support, companionship or transportation to the less fortunate who cannot afford the expert health care.
● Laboratory– Tests to make sure that the health of a person is in good shape like urine test or blood tests can now be availed at home and you won’t need to line up in hospitals anymore. This is a big plus for the elderly or the unwell people who can’t physically wait in long lines.
● Pharma services– Medicines and ointments that patients need to get better can be ordered online or with a phone call and there is no need to go to a chemist.
● Transportation– These services are provided to clients/patients who can’t physically drive and need to go to the hospital for an emergency or just for weekly check ups.
● Food delivery– It becomes very hard to cook when you are ill or injured, so these services were introduced so that you can get a healthy, warm meal sitting at home.
Duties of home health care staff
Their most important/common duties are:-
● Keeping an eye on what the patient is eating or drinking.
● Regularly checking the temperature and blood pressure of the patient.
● Check whether the patient has taken his/her medication and keep note if the medication is making an improvement or not.
● Regularly checking in with the doctor if there is any change in the health whether it be good or bad.
● Check the safety of the home.
● Ask what the patient is feeling during the treatment and if he/she is experiencing any other difficulties.
● After the aides’s duties are no longer needed the aide should let the patient know how to take care of themselves in detail.
Summary
Home health care is a very important initiative that has been introduced to the world. It is very convenient to avail and can ease up the patient’s family’s stress and burden. The patients would be under expert and professional care with recommendations from doctors.
This initiative is very important and is helping out millions of people and families every year.
