If You Could Stay At Home, Would You?

As we head into the weekend, we wanted to share an interesting article in USA Today about the new trend towards in-home hospitalization:

The man’s face was pasty, his eyes closed as he lay back in bed waiting for a wave of nausea to pass. Physician Elizabeth Ward bent over him after checking his temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels and finding that all were normal.

Physician Elizabeth Ward, a provider with Presbyterian Health Care System’s Hospital at Home program in Albuquerque, N.M., follows up with Pamela Blondin, whose husband is being treated daily for colitis.

“Would you rather stay home or go to the hospital?” she asked Frank Blondin, 52, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease. He also had a nasty diarrhea-inducing bacterial infection. “Home,” Blondin responded without any hesitation.

Soon, the doctor was managing a “hospital at home” admission — an arrangement that provides intensive care and monitoring in the quiet of a patient’s own bedroom. Medical supplies and medications would be delivered as soon as possible, she told Blondin’s wife, Pamela. A nurse would come within the hour, take laboratory samples, and return later that afternoon and in the days to come. Ward would check in by phone and visit daily, and help would be available 24/7, if required.

Hospital-at-home programs for intensive-care patients spread

Would you choose to stay at home instead of going to the hospital? Tell us about it in our discussion forum!

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