Getting Quality Home Care?
What to Expect on Home Care Visits
After the initial plan creation, subsequent visits will involve enacting the plan created by the home health agency in coordination with your doctors and/or therapists and coordinating outcomes or any care plan changes with them. During visits, your home health care professional will provide the therapies and treatments for that day which were ordered by your doctors. In addition, on visitation days your professional will check your vitals, like blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate, and ask if you are having any pain. They may also check what you are eating and drinking and ensure that you are taking your medication or applying your treatments correctly. On some visitation days your home health provider will check your home for any potential hazards or educate you on your care, so that you can learn to perform your own care.
NOTE: This is just a general guideline of things you may have happen on home visits. Understand that home health care providers tailor care to the individual’s needs, as such, not everything mentioned above may happen on your home health care visits and depending on your care plan, additional services may occur during visits.
Are You Getting Quality Home Care?
There are numerous online checklists from organizations like Medicare to determine if you are getting quality home health care. These checklists ask you yes or no questions like “Has the staff told you what to do if you have an emergency?” or “Is the staff polite?” However, determining if you are getting quality home care is more than just a checklist…you have to trust that the professional you are letting in your home is not only respectful and polite, but knowledgeable, well-trained, and compassionate.
Home Services Unlimited prides itself on their expert, skilled, and well-trained staff of nurses, therapists, aides, social workers, and other professional staff. Etelka Froymovich, founder and President of Home Services Unlimited, personally interviews all potential employees in order to understand how they view their own role in a patient’s care. However, the company is most proud of the caring touch their professionals bring to the job. Home Services Unlimited understands that it is their responsibility to treat each and every client with compassion, dignity, and respect, in order to form the bonds that aid in the healing process. By working with a company like Home Services Unlimited, you won’t need a checklist to determine if you are receiving quality home care: you will see exceptional quality with every visit.
There are numerous home care agencies in the United States–just do a quick Google search in your area for “home care” and you will probably have ten to fifteen different home health care providers come up for that one search. For many people, it can be a daunting task just to wade through the list of home care providers to narrow it down to a small list to call, not to mention trying to determine which home health care provider will best fit your unique care needs.
Sometimes you will be referred to a specific home care agency by a physician or therapist; however, that is not always the case. If you are not referred to a specific home care agency, how do you narrow down the list? One option is to talk with your insurance provider to determine if there are any agencies specifically covered by your insurance. Another option is to speak with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to see if they have any recommendations for agencies they, or someone they may know, have used in the past. Additionally, Medicare has a quick home health care agency search feature on their website that can help narrow down the numerous agencies to a small list. From there you can follow some of the suggestions on our previous article,
Developing Your Home Care Plan
Once you have selected your home health care provider, there are many different things you can expect to happen during the first visit. On the initial visit the home health agency will come to your home and talk with you about your unique health care needs. They will also talk to your physicians and therapists about the type of care you are receiving and coordinate their home visits based off of the doctor’s orders. They will let you know that they will be communicating regularly with your physicians and therapists to coordinate your care, determine the duration of care, and update your care plan if necessary.
Typically, your plan of care will involve determining what services you require, how often and the length of time you will need the services, what professionals will be needed to administer the services, what medical equipment and treatments are needed, and what results the doctor expects from your care plan. Your home care provider will provide you with your plan of care and contract with the nurses, aides, equipment suppliers, and therapists to provide the services. The agency will also review your care plan at regular intervals and coordinate changes as needed.
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