Early versus late COVID-19 Home Health Care patient population: Shifting sociodemographics and comparable outcomes.
Res Nurs Health
; 45(4): 446-455, 2022 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1802540
ABSTRACT
Early in the pandemic when hospitals reached capacity, Home Health Care (HHC) became a critical source of care for COVID-19 patients and continues to be an important source of care for recovering COVID-19 patients. Little is known about the COVID-19 patient population treated in HHC. This retrospective observational cohort follows 1614 HHC patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis and compares an "Early Cohort" between March 31 and May 31, 2020 to a "Late Cohort" between June 1 and December 31, 2020 for differences in (1) sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (2) health care utilization, and (3) outcomes. Early patients were younger, more likely to be a minority, referred from hospitals or directly from emergency departments, started their care with greater independence in functional abilities, and had fewer comorbidities. Early patients were more likely to have COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis (88.5% vs. 79.4%, p < 0.001), and were assessed as having more severe COVID-19 symptoms. Early and Late Cohorts were assessed similarly for dyspnea at the start of care. COVID-19 patients in the Early Cohort were more likely to have their vital signs monitored remotely (7.3% vs. 1.4%; p < 0.001), have received oxygen in their home (27.8% vs. 15.3%; p < 0.001), and received more virtual care than patients in the Late Cohort (2.04 visits vs. 0.86 visits; p < 0.001), although they had approximately two fewer total visits (12.48 vs. 14.45; p < 0.001). Patients in both cohorts had substantial improvement in dyspnea and functional ability during the course of HHC.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Home Care Services
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Res Nurs Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Nur.22230
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