BACKGROUND Congestive heart failure (CHF), a common problem in adults, is associated with multiple hospitalizations, high mortality rates and high costs. PURPOSE To evaluate whether home care for homebound patients with CHF reduces healthcare service utilization and overall costs. METHODS A retrospective study of healthcare utilization among homebound patients who received home care for CHF...

This paper intends to describe some of the primary social and cultural dynamics in South African home-based healthcare, using ethnographic case study material and design methodology. This constitutes a detailed narrative of the “care experience” in a poor community, emphasising the needs of and barriers to educational information, particularly concerning caregivers. In reaction to this context,...

In order to understand the tapestry of care in the home, we need to realize that in addition to regulated staff providing care, home support workers, volunteers and family and friend caregivers provide essential support to the frail, disabled and chronically ill. In their article “Employers, Home Support Workers and Elderly Clients Reveal Key Issues in Delivery and Receipt of Home Support,” Ann...

Currently, care and rehabilitation practices move, to a greater extent, out of hospitals and into private homes. This accelerating trend challenges healthcare systems and their patients. Heterogeneous settings such as private homes together with the diverse nature of the inhabitants and their conditions create both technical and usability constraints and possibilities that can inform developmen...

BACKGROUND eHealth applications for out-of-hospital monitoring and treatment follow-up have been advocated for many years as a promising tool to improve treatment compliance, promote individualized care and obtain a person-centred care. Despite these benefits and a large number of promising projects, a major breakthrough in everyday care is generally still lacking. Inappropriate organization fo...

Patient outcomes and cost were compared when home healthcare was delivered by telemedicine or by traditional means for patients receiving skilled nursing care at home. A randomized controlled trial was established using three groups. The first group, control group C, received traditional skilled nursing care at home. The second group, video intervention group V, received traditional skilled nur...

The combination of reducing birth rate and increasing life expectancy continues to drive the demographic shift toward an aging population. This, in turn, places an ever-increasing burden on healthcare due to the increasing prevalence of patients with chronic illnesses and the reducing income-generating population base needed to sustain them. The need to urgently address this healthcare "time bo...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this research is to understand the performance of home healthcare practice in the US. The relationships between home healthcare patient factors and agency characteristics are not well understood. In particular, discharge destination and length of stay have not been studied using a data mining approach which may provide insights not obtained through traditional statisti...

BACKGROUND The three delays model proposes that maternal mortality is associated with delays in: 1) deciding to seek care; 2) reaching the healthcare facility; and 3) receiving care. Previously, the majority of women who died were reported to have experienced type 1 and 2 delays. With increased coverage of healthcare services, we sought to explore the relative contribution of each type of delay...