how icu care at home is better than hospital facilities?

how icu care at home is better than in hospitals?

Various medical innovations have improved the healthcare industry in the recent past and this had led to superior independence and care quality level for patients, both at the hospital/clinic and at home. The innovations and advancements have fuelled the adoption, creation and development of the latest healthcare delivery systems. Latest critical care unit models empowered by interventions based on technology enable quicker, easier and more effective monitoring and treatment. 

at home icu care vs. hospital icu facilities

In the recent past, there has been huge intensive care medicine growth in the country. Intensive therapy results have been continuously enhancing, in spite of the variations in the use of resources, processes, consumables, drugs and techniques in various ICUs. Whilst disease outcomes are easy to account for, ICU outcomes aren’t that simple to grasp and account for, due to the nature of these units and the approach used in India for intensive care.  

ICU care is varied across the nation. Access to skilled ICU consultants [intensivists] and nurses is a chief reason for the variation in the care quality delivered. Various ICU models based on the management and contribution of an intensivist are there. The ICUs go by labels like semi-closed, closed and open ICU. India has more number of open intensive care units, less semi-closed ICUs and even less closed ones. Once the patient has recovered from the ICU, they frequently end up requiring supportive care in various forms including nutritional support, physiotherapy, and respiratory support using portable ventilators. In these cases owing to a shortage of transitional care facilities, the patients start to occupy ICU beds and therefore aren’t able to profit from the helpful features of transitional care. There’s a chance that the patient might be exposed to several risks when they stay in the ICU for a prolonged time. 

Average stay length is a great measure to comprehend the impact on ICU usage. Drawn-out ICU stay can at times badly affect the general health status of the patient by enhancing the risk of complications, infections, and perhaps, mortality. From the operation viewpoint, it has an impact on ICU bed availability and might result in the termination of optional surgeries and cause long waiting times. The drawn-out stay of the patient takes up a considerable amount of ICU resources and there’s a requirement to recognize the ways using which the ICU resources can be properly used and boost ICU room care efficiency. 

other intensive care models

Transitional care facilities such as skilled nursing facilities, long term acute care hospitals, provide specialized programs and personalized sustained care for patients who happen to have several co-morbidities. These facilities are not accessible in India at the moment.  Establishing the time-consuming and expensive infrastructure to build an LTAC network nationwide in a diverse and large country such as India is quite a challenge. With the help of technology, connected devices and remote monitoring, ICU care at home is possible too. For a patient who requires long-term care or is confined to their bed chronically [post-surgery owing to neurological/respiratory ailment, holistic care might be offered by a multi-disciplinary squad with remote monitoring by experts. The devices can help monitor the signs, symptoms and various other parameters. Besides live video streaming, the squad can help with connected, complete, and efficient care to the patient. Additionally, the family of the patient can be engaged in the patient care which improves the experience further.

benefits of icu care at home

Smartly designed home care models can help caregivers, patients, and payers in several ways. A common situation in the majority of ICUs is when a patient is no longer in the severe phase of their ailment but isn’t entirely ready for discharge.

Home ICU setup has the potential to lessen the stay length in the clinic/hospital for the patient and lower hospital-related problems. The recovery of the patient might be delayed since it potentially enhances the risk of getting nosocomial infections, so it becomes important to choose the best home ICU care provider. It is also beneficial for people with mental health issues. For payers, there’s the cost-benefit. For healthcare personnel and facilities, more patients can now be admitted and taken care of in the ICU with the resources available. 

Home-based ICU care positions the patient at the pivot of care effectively compared to hospital ICU care. As long as clinical excellence and safety are properly addressed, it is difficult to imagine a superior location for patient-centric and integrated care than the home of the patient. As infrastructure and ideas get better, there will be very few reasons to get care in pricey and potentially unsafe settings.

how to get reliable icu homecare

The challenge here is to build an ecosystem that people can trust. This includes a firmly-knit relationship between healthcare personnel, technology provider, and regulatory bodies. The in-home trained ICU attendant service offered by Portea offers holistic support at home. The ICU nurses or caregivers look after the daily activities of the patient. They assist with personal grooming, feeding, movement, and light housekeeping. They are also trained to examine general health by frequently measuring basic vitals like blood pressure, heart rate, etc.