Planning and clinical role of acute medical home care services for COVID-19: consensus position statement by the Hospital-in-the-Home Society Australasia

Penelope A Bryant; Benjamin A Rogers; Raquel Cowan; Asha C Bowen; James Pollard; Hospital-in-the-Home Society Australasia

doi:10.1111/imj.15011

Planning and clinical role of acute medical home care services for COVID-19: consensus position statement by the Hospital-in-the-Home Society Australasia

Intern Med J. 2020 Oct;50(10):1267-1271. doi: 10.1111/imj.15011. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

Authors

Penelope A Bryant^{1

2

3}, Benjamin A Rogers^{4

5}, Raquel Cowan^{6

7

8}, Asha C Bowen^{9

10}, James Pollard¹¹; Hospital-in-the-Home Society Australasia

Affiliations

¹ Hospital-in-the-Home and Infectious Diseases Departments, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
³ Clinical Paediatrics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Monash Infectious Diseases, Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ Infectious Disease Department, Ballarat Hospital, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Infectious Diseases Department, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
⁸ School of Medicine, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁹ Department of Infectious Diseases, Perth Children's Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
¹⁰ Skin Health, Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
¹¹ Community Care, Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; acute home care; hospital-at-home; hospital-based home care services; hospital-in-the-home; virtual hospital.

MeSH terms

Australasia / epidemiology
Betacoronavirus
COVID-19
Communication
Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
Coronavirus Infections / therapy*
Equipment and Supplies, Hospital / supply & distribution
Health Workforce / organization & administration
Home Care Services / organization & administration*
Humans
Infection Control / organization & administration
Occupational Exposure / prevention & control
Pandemics
Patient-Centered Care / organization & administration
Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
Pneumonia, Viral / therapy*
SARS-CoV-2
Workload