Wages or Legitimacy? A Qualitative Analysis of Home Care Worker Perspectives in Choosing Work Settings.

Directly-Funded (DF) home care allows users to organize and purchase their own care services and is expanding globally. Little is known about the career pathways of home care workers. Our study asks, what experiences and factors do home care workers consider when choosing a work setting? And, specifically, what influences their decisions to work directly for their clients? Framed with Cranford's (2020) flexibility-security matrix for analyzing home care dynamics, we remotely interviewed 20 home care workers in two Canadian provinces. Three team members conducted axial coding and thematic analysis using Dedoose software. We identified personal and material factors at the intimate and labor market level that workers weigh when choosing whether to work for an agency or directly for a client. At the intimate level, workers value the flexibility, autonomy, and respect facilitated in care relations when working directly for a client. At the labor market level, agencies provide better job security and the benefit of supervisory support but lower wages. Additionally, as care work often serves as a stepping stone for immigration and citizenship agency positions are considered a more "legitimate" option than working directly for a client. Our study shows that workers directly employed by their clients enjoy more flexibility but lack security, whereas agency employed workers risk immediate reductions in working conditions in exchange for limited improvements in safety and supervision and, like other frontline care work, DF home care represents a key career pathway for immigrants with previous experience in health and social care settings.

Smart homes: pioneering age-friendly environments in China for enhanced health and quality of life.

Traditionally, China has been more reliant on a model of care that ensures older adults are cared for by family members. Whilst promoting the idea of older adults ageing in their own homes is essential, the provision of in-home care must shift from primarily relying on family caregivers to a model that places greater emphasis on gerontechnologies and enhanced healthcare service delivery. In this perspective article we argue for the adoption of a 'smart home' model in aged care in China. The smart home model argues for innovative technologies to older adult care, such as virtual support groups, video-conferencing, and electronic health records; assistive technologies that can safely maintain independence and assist with daily living such as sensors, wearables, telehealth, smart home technologies as well as interactive robotic technologies for mobility and cognitive support such as humanoid robots, rehabilitation robots, service/companion robots. The adoption and implementation of gerontechnologies have been slow, with only a handful of solutions demonstrating proven effectiveness in supporting home care. The utilisation of such digital technologies to support and enable older adults in China to age-in-place can bring a significant contribution to healthy ageing. Nonetheless, it's crucial to focus on co-creating with end-users, incorporating their values and preferences, and enhancing training to boost the adoption of these gerontechnologies. Through a smart home model of care, China can age-in-place more effectively, leading to significant contributions to healthy ageing.

Relationship between cleaning frequency and pressure ulcer healing time in older people receiving home care.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between the healing time of pressure ulcers (PUs) and wound cleaning frequency among older people in homecare settings was investigated. METHOD: This single-centre, prospective cohort study was conducted from April 2018 to March 2019. Patients who used home-visit nursing services, had National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel classification stage 2 PUs, and had their wounds cleaned at least twice a week were enrolled in the study. Wound cleaning was performed using tap water and a weakly acidic cleanser. Participants were divided into two groups, determined by the frequency of wound cleaning (twice weekly versus ≥3 times weekly). Duration of PU healing and the increase in care insurance premiums were compared in both groups. RESULTS: A total of 12 patients were included in the study. The mean healing period of PUs cleaned ≥3 times per week (65.3±24.8 days) was significantly shorter than that of PUs cleaned twice a week (102.6±19.2 days; p<0.05). Furthermore, the increase in care insurance premiums for PUs cleaned ≥3 times per week (¥122,497±105,660 Yen per six months) was significantly lower than that for PUs cleaned twice a week (¥238,116±60,428 per six months) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that frequent cleaning of PUs by health professionals in homecare settings not only shorten PU healing period but also reduces care insurance premiums for PU care.

Optimized continuous homecare provisioning through distributed data-driven semantic services and cross-organizational workflows.

BACKGROUND: In healthcare, an increasing collaboration can be noticed between different caregivers, especially considering the shift to homecare. To provide optimal patient care, efficient coordination of data and workflows between these different stakeholders is required. To achieve this, data should be exposed in a machine-interpretable, reusable manner. In addition, there is a need for smart, dynamic, personalized and performant services provided on top of this data. Flexible workflows should be defined that realize their desired functionality, adhere to use case specific quality constraints and improve coordination across stakeholders. User interfaces should allow configuring all of this in an easy, user-friendly way. METHODS: A distributed, generic, cascading reasoning reference architecture can solve the presented challenges. It can be instantiated with existing tools built upon Semantic Web technologies that provide data-driven semantic services and constructing cross-organizational workflows. These tools include RMLStreamer to generate Linked Data, DIVIDE to adaptively manage contextually relevant local queries, Streaming MASSIF to deploy reusable services, AMADEUS to compose semantic workflows, and RMLEditor and Matey to configure rules to generate Linked Data. RESULTS: A use case demonstrator is built on a scenario that focuses on personalized smart monitoring and cross-organizational treatment planning. The performance and usability of the demonstrator's implementation is evaluated. The former shows that the monitoring pipeline efficiently processes a stream of 14 observations per second: RMLStreamer maps JSON observations to RDF in 13.5 ms, a C-SPARQL query to generate fever alarms is executed on a window of 5 s in 26.4 ms, and Streaming MASSIF generates a smart notification for fever alarms based on severity and urgency in 1539.5 ms. DIVIDE derives the C-SPARQL queries in 7249.5 ms, while AMADEUS constructs a colon cancer treatment plan and performs conflict detection with it in 190.8 ms and 1335.7 ms, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Existing tools built upon Semantic Web technologies can be leveraged to optimize continuous care provisioning. The evaluation of the building blocks on a realistic homecare monitoring use case demonstrates their applicability, usability and good performance. Further extending the available user interfaces for some tools is required to increase their adoption.

Assessment of the Impact of Home-Based Hospitalization on Health Outcomes: An Observational Study.

INTRODUCTION: In Portugal, evidence of clinical outcomes within home-based hospitalization programs remains limited. Despite the adoption of homebased hospitalization services, it is still unclear whether these services represent an effective way to manage patients compared with inpatient hospital care. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of home-based hospitalization compared with conventional hospitalization in a group of patients with a primary diagnosis of infectious, cardiovascular, oncological, or 'other' diseases. METHODS: An observational retrospective study using anonymized administrative data to investigate the outcomes of home-based hospitalization (n = 209) and conventional hospitalization (n = 192) for 401 Portuguese patients admitted to CUF hospitals (Tejo, Cascais, Sintra, Descobertas, and the Unidade de Hospitalização Domiciliária CUF Lisboa). Data on demographics and clinical outcomes, including Barthel index, Braden scale, Morse scale, mortality, and length of hospital stay, were collected. The statistical analysis included comparison tests and logistic regression. RESULTS: The study found no statistically significant differences between patients' admission and discharge for the Barthel index, Braden scale, and Morse scale scores, for both conventional and home-based hospitalizations. In addition, no statistically significant differences were found in the length of stay between conventional and home-based hospitalization, although patients diagnosed with infectious diseases had a longer stay than patients with other conditions. Although the mortality rate was higher in home-based hospitalization compared to conventional hospitalization, the mortality risk index (higher in home-based hospitalization) assessed at admission was a more important predictor of death than the type of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: The study found that there were no significant differences in outcomes between conventional and home-based hospitalization. Home-based hospitalization was found to be a valuable aspect of patient- and family-centered care. However, it is noteworthy that patients with infectious diseases experienced longer hospital stays.

Brave new world: expanding home care in stem cell transplantation and advanced therapies with new technologies.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cell therapies like CAR-T are costly, complex therapeutic procedures. Outpatient models, including at-home transplantation, have been developed, resulting in similar survival results, reduced costs, and increased patient satisfaction. The complexity and safety of the process can be addressed with various emerging technologies (artificial intelligence, wearable sensors, point-of-care analytical devices, drones, virtual assistants) that allow continuous patient monitoring and improved decision-making processes. Patients, caregivers, and staff can also benefit from improved training with simulation or virtual reality. However, many technical, operational, and above all, ethical concerns need to be addressed. Finally, outpatient or at-home hematopoietic transplantation or CAR-T therapy creates a different, integrated operative system that must be planned, designed, and carefully adapted to the patient's characteristics and distance from the hospital. Patients, clinicians, and their clinical environments can benefit from technically improved at-home transplantation.

SupporTive Care At Home Research (STAHR) for patients with advanced cancer: Protocol for a cluster non-randomized controlled trial.

Advancements in the treatment and management of patients with cancer have extended their survival period. To honor such patients' desire to live in their own homes, home-based supportive care programs have become an important medical practice. This study aims to investigate the effects of a multidimensional and integrated home-based supportive care program on patients with advanced cancer. SupporTive Care At Home Research is a cluster non-randomized controlled trial for patients with advanced cancer. This study tests the effects of the home-based supportive care program we developed versus standard oncology care. The home-based supportive care program is based on a specialized home-based medical team approach that includes (1) initial assessment and education for patients and their family caregivers, (2) home visits by nurses, (3) biweekly regular check-ups/evaluation and management, (4) telephone communication via a daytime access line, and (5) monthly multidisciplinary team meetings. The primary outcome measure is unplanned hospitalization within 6 months following enrollment. Healthcare service use; quality of life; pain and symptom control; emotional status; satisfaction with services; end-of-life care; advance planning; family caregivers' quality of life, care burden, and preparedness for caregiving; and medical expenses will be surveyed. We plan to recruit a total of 396 patients with advanced cancer from six institutions. Patients recruited from three institutions will constitute the intervention group, whereas those recruited from the other three institutions will comprise the control group.

Training Opportunities for Managers in Home Health, Hospice, and Community-Based Care Settings.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify areas for developing management skills-focused continuing education for managers working in home health, hospice, and community-based settings. BACKGROUND: Healthcare managers play a vital role in organizations, yet they have a range of management training. METHODS: Researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey of managers at a large Visiting Nurse Association. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed to examine confidence in management skills by respondent characteristic. Factor and cluster analyses were used to examine differences by role. RESULTS: For all 33 management tasks, managers with 6+ years of experience reported greater confidence than managers with 0 to 5 years of experience. Tasks with the lowest confidence were budgeting, interpreting annual reports, strategic planning, measuring organizational performance, and project planning. Managers were clustered into 5 "profiles." CONCLUSION: Management training is not 1-size-fits-all. Healthcare organizations should consider investing in training specific to the identified low-confidence areas and manager roles to better support and develop a robust management workforce.

Assessing family function: older adults vs. care nurses: a cross-sectional comparative study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess family function in home care for older adults. Understanding family dynamics is essential for providing quality care to older adults choosing to age in place. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 53 patients aged 65 or older receiving home care were evaluated, along with four home care nurses. The General Function of Family Assessment Device (FAD-GF) was used for self-assessment to examine family resources. RESULTS: Only 5.7% of older adults reported good family function. Strong correlations were found between assessments by nurses and older adults. Among the six aspects of family function, "problem solving," "communication," "affective responsiveness," and the overall results showed no disparities between the evaluations of older adults and nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Home care nurses can effectively assess family function using the FAD-GF, particularly after six months of care. This assessment can help identify family issues and enhance home care quality through nurse training in FAD-GF application.

Palliative Care Practices and Knowledge of Home Care Nurses in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Palliative Care (PC) is an interdisciplinary specialty focused on relieving symptoms and optimizing quality of life for people living with serious illnesses and their families. A great need for PC exists in Saudi Arabia due to its aging population and prevalence of cancer and other chronic diseases. Home healthcare can make PC more accessible to patients, but clinicians must be equipped with the PC knowledge and skills to perform their roles. This study was a descriptive, correlational examination of PC practices and knowledge of home care nurses recruited from military hospitals in Saudi Arabia. We surveyed participants using the Palliative Care Quiz for Nursing (PCQN) and the Modified Global Home Health Nursing Care Assessment Questionnaire. The mean PCQN score was 8.40, indicating low levels of PC knowledge. A nurses' demographic and physical, spiritual, religious, cultural, linguistic, ethical, and legal aspects of care revealed significant associations. Given the low levels of PC knowledge and skills, we recommend focusing on education, training, and research. Universities should review their curriculum to ensure PC content. Hospitals should provide training programs focused on all aspects of PC, specifically emotional and spiritual, without limiting training to physical aspects of care. Future research is also needed to inform policy in this area.

Teamwork and Nurse Care Coordination in Home Healthcare.

Home healthcare agencies provide interdisciplinary care to millions of individuals annually. Care is typically led by registered nurses who often determine additional disciplines need to be included in the plan of care. We found that, although persons living with dementia represent about 30% of the home healthcare population, data from our home healthcare system showed that over a 1-year period with 36,443 home care episodes, only 29.6% had one or more social worker visits. Recognizing Alzheimer's disease-related dementia as a terminal condition and shifting toward a palliative care approach can be a challenge in home healthcare where care is focused on restorative care or rehabilitative goals with a primary focus on improvement in condition. The goal of this article is to present insights into nurse-led care coordination and teamwork and provide implications for practice.

The way back home: The invisible burden of the emergency healthcare services.

Ambulance services around the world vary according to regional, cultural and socioeconomic conditions. Many countries apply different health policies locally. In Turkey, transportation from hospital to home has started to form an important part of ambulance services in recent years. The increase in the number of patients whose treatment has been completed and waiting to be referred may hinder the work of the emergency services. The aim of this study was to examine the costs, indications, and impact on workload of patients sent home by ambulance. Patients were divided into two groups according to the reasons for referral. The distance to home, transport time and cost were calculated according to the reasons for transport. Patients who were transferred to other clinics or hospitals by ambulance were excluded from the study. The findings showed that the hospital-to-home transfer rate during the study period was 11.4%. Although 9.7% of all cases transferred from our hospital to home were due to social indications, these cases accounted for 16.26% of the total costs. These results suggest that providing home transport services to selected patient groups for medical reasons should be seen as part of the treatment. However, the indications for home transport should not be exceeded and an additional burden should not be placed on the fragile health service.

Bridging Educational Grant in Nursing (BEGIN) students' intentions for retention in long-term, home and community care: A survey protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Retention of nurses in long-term care (LTC) and home and community care (HCC) settings is a growing concern. Previous evidence underscores factors which contribute to nurses' intentions for retention in these sectors. However, perspectives of nursing students preparing to enter the workforce, and their intentions for short-term and long-term retention, remain unknown. This study aims to explore relationships between short-term and long-term intentions for retention with psychological empowerment, work engagement, career commitment, burnout, prosocial motivation, self-care and personal resilience among students enrolled in nursing educational bridging programs supported by the Bridging Educational Grant in Nursing (BEGIN) program in Ontario, Canada. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This cross-sectional design study will use an open online survey to investigate perspectives of current nursing students enrolled in educational bridging programs on factors relating to psychological empowerment, work engagement, career commitment, resilience, burnout, prosocial motivation, self-care and intentions for retention. Additionally, the survey will collect demographic information, including age, gender, ethnicity, citizenship, income, family status, nursing role, and years of employment and/or education. Open-ended questions will elicit participants' perspectives on financial considerations for career planning and other factors impacting intentions for retention. Descriptive data will be presented for contextualisation of participants' demographic characteristics to enhance generalisability of the cohort. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarise participants' scores on various assessment measures, as well as their short-term and long-term intentions for retention in LTC and HCC after completion of BEGIN. A Pearson's product moment r correlation will determine relationships between intentions for retention and other measures, and linear regression will determine whether any potential correlations can be explained by regression. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This research protocol received ethical approval from a research-intensive university research ethics board (#123211). Findings will be disseminated to nursing knowledge users in LTC and HCC through publications, conferences, social media and newsletters.

Patients' and caregivers' perspective on challenges and outcomes with tube feeding: Analysis of home enteral nutrition survey data.

BACKGROUND: Given the growing use of home enteral nutrition (HEN), assessing the experience of consumers and caregivers is crucial to understanding the real-world subjective and objective challenges of administering HEN. METHODS: After obtaining institutional review board approval, a survey was distributed to HEN consumers and caregivers between January 16, 2020, and July 16, 2021. Data collected included information regarding demographics, primary diagnosis, tube and connectors, HEN regimen, and overall HEN experience. RESULTS: A total of 884 individuals responded to the survey: 673 (76.1%) responses by caregivers and 211 (23.9%) responses by patients. The study cohort included 566 (64%) children and 318 (36%) adults. The leading primary diagnosis of participants was developmental delay and motility disorder for children and adults, respectively. Low-profile gastric tubes were the most used (75.7% of children and 30.3% of adults). Notably, legacy connectors were utilized for more patients (46.7% children, 52.6% adults) compared to ISO-80369-3 connectors (38.9% children, 29.7% adults). HEN complications were prevalent, including enteral tube site infections and other tube-related complications, including clogging and kinking. CONCLUSION: This real-world data reveals that HEN complications remain prevalent. Additionally, despite introducing ISO-80369-3 connectors many years ago, most patients continue to use legacy tubes with a significant lack of knowledge about ISO-80369-3 connectors. The survey results guide HEN providers to focus on several areas to reduce complications.

Advanced Hospital Healthcare at Home-How Is It Going?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCAH) waiver, which launched in November 2020, has prompted hundreds of hospitals across the country to initiate programs that allow certain patients to complete their acute care stays in the familiar comfort of their homes. But this waiver is about to expire in December 2024. It is a success; but can we continue it?