what should a home care provider really be doing?
Think About Using A Medical House Call Program
Adrian Cano
When your loved one has reached a point where you may think it's time to put them into a residential setting for their medical care, you may start to look around at all the options out there. There are many choices that you can go with, but a residential institution doesn't have to be the answer. There are other options open to you. One of them is a medical house call program.
House Calls
House calls were once the standard of medicine. You didn't go to the doctor, they came to you. However, in the last century, that changed. Within certain parameters, medical house calls are making a comeback. The population that is most likely to see a doctor in their own home is the senior citizens. There are agencies that are similar to home health nursing programs that send nurses out to a house for medical care that have doctors on staff instead. Your loved one's primary care physician would be able to refer them to one of these agencies. The agency will then send a doctor to your loved one. That doctor may become their primary care physician or may work in concert with the PCP and other medical professionals.
Benefits
There are several benefits to a program like this. One is that your loved one is able to stay in their home for longer. Another is that it may be difficult for your loved one to be able to get to the doctor's office, especially if they don't have a car or can't drive anymore. Having a doctor come to them means that they don't have to worry about transportation. Another benefit is that the doctor gets to see the environment in which your loved one lives. If they are complaining about something in the home making them sick, the doctor can physically see what the problem may be.
Drawbacks
There are a few drawbacks to medical house call programs. One is that not every place will have access to a program like this. You may just not live in an area that has coverage. Another problem is that your loved one's insurance may not cover a program that would have a doctor come to the house instead of having your loved one going to the doctor.
Putting your loved one in a residential institution due to health reasons doesn't have to be an option. There are other things that you can do.
For more information, talk to a professional like Medical House Calls With Compassion.
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If you have a home health care worker in your home, you know very well how helpful he or she can be. What you may not know is what all that worker is supposed to be doing while in your home. Does the service provide general housecleaning services? Should he or she be doing laundry for the one that they are caring for? My blog will show you what services may or may not be offered by home health care services so that you can look further into what the service you have hired is supposed to be doing in your home.