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Planning and clinical role of acute medical home care services for COVID ‐19: consensus position statement by the Hospital‐in‐the‐Home Society Australasia
Author(s) -
Bryant Penelope A.,
Rogers Benjamin A.,
Cowan Raquel,
Bowen Asha C.,
Pollard James
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.15011
Subject(s) - medicine , staffing , covid-19 , pandemic , isolation (microbiology) , acute care , telehealth , medical emergency , position statement , telemedicine , nursing , health care , family medicine , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , virology , outbreak , microbiology and biotechnology , economics , biology , economic growth
During a pandemic when hospitals are stretched and patients need isolation, the role of hospital‐in‐the‐home (HITH) providing acute medical care at home has never been more relevant. We aimed to define and address the challenges to acute home care services posed by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Planning for service operation involves staffing, equipment availability and cleaning, upskilling in telehealth and communication. Planning for clinical care involves maximising cohorts of patients without COVID‐19 and new clinical pathways for patients with COVID‐19. The risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission, specific COVID‐19 clinical pathways and the well‐being of patients and staff should be addressed in advance.