Patients’ and family caregivers’ experiences with a newly implemented hospital at home program in British Columbia, Canada: Preliminary results

The Hospital at Home (HaH) model of care, which enables the provision of acute-level care in the patient’s own home as an alternative to brick and mortar hospital admission, was introduced in British Columbia, Canada in November 2020, starting with 9 inpatient “beds” in the community. The AT-HOME research group applied a patient-oriented approach to evaluate the patients’ and family caregivers’ (FCGs) experiences with the program as it was implemented and expanded throughout Victoria, BC. In this paper, we discuss the development of the survey instruments, including process and timelines (three phases); and present preliminary findings of the observational research study (six months of patient and FCG feedback data). The preliminary results show that 100% of patients (n=75) and 95% of FCGs (n=57) had an overall positive experience with the program (rated 6-10 on a 10-point scale where 0 meant ‘very poor’ and 10 ‘very good’). 100% of these patients and 96% of these FCGs would recommend the program to their friends and family and 97% of these patients and 96% of these FCGs would choose the program again if faced with the same situation. The preliminary results on metrics pertaining to care quality; information sharing and experiences with the admission and discharge processes; FCG’s roles, medication management, and more are discussed here. The final results of the patient and FCG experiences will be reported at the end of the data collection period. We can conclude that this new HaH program has been positively received by patients and FCGs thus far and they support program expansion.
Related content
-
Innovation & Technology | Policy & Measurement
Implementing the Most Significant Change Methodology: Measuring the Impact of Practice-Based Research and Innovation (PBRI) through a Self-Narrative
This paper explores the PBRI Innovation Fellowship, which provides an opportunity for health professionals to identify and lead an innovative quality improvement project to bridge an evidence-to-practice gap that will lead to improved health care practice and patient experiences.
Learn more -
Culture & Leadership | Innovation & Technology | Staff & Provider Engagement
Ease, Care, and Access: The Business Impact of Experience Transformation
Learn how organizations are leveraging advanced machine learning and AI listening technologies to transform operations, enable empathy at scale, and articulate the ever-elusive ROI in financial, experiential, and operational terms.
Learn more -
Innovation & Technology
Acceptability of a New Remote Monitoring Service for Patients with COVID-19 Infection using Wearable BioStickers™: A Mixed Methods Study
The COVID-19 pandemic saw rapid adoption of telehealth, including remote patient monitoring (RPM). There is limited evidence about how patients and staff experience such services in New Zealand. This study aimed to understand the acceptability of the RPM experience, particularly for Maori and Pacific peoples, and identify strengths, gaps, and limitations to inform future delivery
Learn more