Open AccessCollaboration between Two Restructured Hospitals' Family Physician-Led Transitional Home Care Teams in the Provision of Home Ventilation Respiratory Support
Author(s) -
Lian Leng Low,
Alvin Wai Kit Tan,
Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
proceedings of singapore healthcare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2059-2329
pISSN - 2010-1058
DOI - 10.1177/201010581402300213
Subject(s) - multidisciplinary approach , medicine , medical emergency , respiratory therapist , respiratory care , medical home , nursing , family medicine , intensive care medicine , primary care , social science , sociology
Caring for a patient on a home ventilator requires a trained multidisciplinary home care team. Availability of home medical care support at our restructured hospitals allows timely discharge of these patients to their homes, resulting in decreased hospitalisation stay in an acute hospital; or the need of an intermediate care facility. We described a case where collaboration between two family physician-led transitional home care teams from two restructured hospitals resulted in safe transfer of care for a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis requiring ventilator support. The importance of a multidisciplinary team effort in integration of medical and social care services to reduce unnecessary hospital utilisation was highlighted. The expertise and resources of home medical care teams must continually be enhanced to manage increasing number of patients with complex medical problems, including those requiring home ventilators.