Subject(s)
Community Health Nursing/organization & administration , Home Care Services/organization & administration , Point-of-Care Systems/organization & administration , Telemedicine/organization & administration , Community Health Nursing/trends , Home Care Services/trends , Hospice Care/organization & administration , Humans , Medical Records Systems, Computerized , Nursing Informatics , Point-of-Care Systems/trends , Self Care/standards , Telemedicine/trends , United StatesABSTRACT
Dysphagia has devastating effects on millions of adults and children in the United States and contributes to the increasing cost of healthcare because of the aspiration that results. A new treatment, Vital-Stim, is a form of electrical stimulation that speech therapists can administer in the home care setting. This article reflects one agency's success in changing people's lives by helping them swallow again.
Subject(s)
Deglutition Disorders/economics , Deglutition Disorders/therapy , Electric Stimulation Therapy/economics , Electric Stimulation Therapy/methods , Home Care Services/organization & administration , Deglutition , Home Care Services/economics , Humans , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Program Evaluation , Reimbursement Mechanisms/organization & administration , VirginiaABSTRACT
Asthma is a widespread disease that affects more than 20 million Americans and up to 150 million people around the world. The cost of treating asthma is $14 billion annually. Particularly hard hit are children in inner city areas; researchers have found that 14 percent of inner city adolescent children are diagnosed with asthma. Sentara Home Care Services in Chesapeake, Virginia, has developed an innovative program to improve the management of asthma among children, particularly inner city children, by implementing a system of "Life Coaches" to counsel proper medication use and lifestyle behaviors for these patients and their families.