Hospital environment, however friendly and professional, can be daunting to many of us. An early discharge and return back to home is what every patient would be concerned about. This is also what Amana Healthcare strives to achieve through its Home Health Care (HHC) services.

Teresa Quinn, lead specialist for Home Healthcare at Amana Healthcare, says: “Each patient’s healthcare requirements are unique and require comprehensive assessments by a multidisciplinary clinical team to ensure that medical, environmental and social needs are aligned with each patient’s own priorities.

“Such a comprehensive assessment leads to a customised care plan. But, with medical requirements that include world class rehabilitation, nursing care, wound care and chronic illness management, the idea of recovering in one’s own home becomes a distant concept. This is where HHC plays an important role. In 2017, Amana Healthcare addressed the home healthcare needs of 50 patients and evolved a successful HHC model.”
Teresa sheds more light on the HHC model in the following interview.

What is Home Health Care?
HHC is the provision of clinical care within a person’s own home by skilled medical professionals. This includes a variety of services such as nursing care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, rehabilitation, chronic illness support or palliative care. In addition, this also covers “hospital at home medical services” such as intravenous antibiotics, chemotherapy supportive care or complex wound management.

What kind of patients can benefit from HHC?
HHC benefits particularly those who have trouble in leaving home and going to a hospital for medical help and prolonged care. HHC can also benefit patients who require long-term rehabilitation following stroke, brain or spinal cord injury, post orthopaedic surgery or cancer treatments. It encourages people to manage and live with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, respiratory illnesses, dementia/Alzheimer’s and those going through a cancer diagnosis or its treatment.

What is the convenience of HHC?
HHC allows patients to receive “the right care in the right place at the right time”. Some individuals find it challenging to leave their home due to illness, mobility or lack of appropriate transport. HHC can assist these vulnerable individuals to ensure they receive the preventative, curative and/or supportive care they require. Besides, it helps individuals and families that find it particularly challenging to be out of their familiar environment, especially in acute care settings. 

What are the advantages of HHC?
Patients who opt for early hospital discharge with continued home care services report improved quality of life whilst reducing the risk of hospital acquired complications such as multi-resistant infections, falls, development of clots or pressure injuries.

Hospital admissions can cause fear, detachment and isolation from family. All patients can experience these unpleasant consequences when admitted to acute care. For those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, changes in environment particularly worsen their insecurities and symptoms.

HHC encourages patients to regain independence and control of their lives. Rehabilitation following a stroke, brain or spinal injury, or  following diagnosis of a chronic illness such as COPD or heart failure or post cancer treatment is made easier within a patient’s own home. It allows for services, modifications and equipment to be tailored to the patients physical and environmental needs.

Diagnosis of chronic illness such as diabetes, heart failure or respiratory failure can cause a lot of anxiety. HHC encourages self-management of their illness through education about their individual illness; it further educates care givers/family members on medication management, prevention of worsening symptoms and lifestyle modifications.
Family members are quite often the primary care givers of older relatives, parents or family members. This role can be stressful and overwhelming. HHC can help “lighten the load,” ensuring family has support and education to assist patient in providing the best care possible. Families want to care for their own; HHC helps families carry out their wishes, giving them the satisfaction of caring for their kin in the comfort of their own homes.

What if there is an emergency with the HHC patient?