Home Medicine is a medical service designed for those people who, due to their situation or circumstances, require quality medical care in their own home. It offers a comprehensive view of their health, guaranteeing continuity of care during the care process by qualified and experienced professionals.
Home doctor
A home doctor is a specialist who travels to the patient’s home to visit him or her. The specialist must be able to contextualize the situation in which the patient is being cared for, assessing the human and physical-logistic environment. This requires a vision based on training and experience in home health care, which is very different from hospital training and experience. Specialties such as Family Medicine, Geriatrics or Internal Medicine are those that facilitate this global vision of health, whose preparation is complemented by direct experience in homes.
Which patients or illnesses require a home doctor?
Home medical care is necessary when, due to certain pathologies or illnesses, the patient is unable to travel to the doctor’s office or hospital, or when such a trip represents a significant reduction in their quality of life. This may be temporary or permanent, due to a chronic illness for example.
Some of the situations in which home health care may be required are:
- Post-hospital discharge convalescence: after an operation or after a decompensation, for example.
- Chronic illnesses that condition a certain degree of dependence: respiratory, cardiac, neurodegenerative, etc.
- Mobility limitations due to various causes: osteo-articular pathology or aging, among others.
- Advanced diseases
Home Medicine Medical Services
At the medical level, the aim is to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the patient’s state of health, to evaluate their needs by areas and establish a care and follow-up plan.
- Care and medical follow-up of chronic pathologies
- Care and medical follow-up of convalescence processes.
- Care and medical follow-up of exacerbations or decompensations.
- Post-surgical medical care and follow-up
- Prevention planning to promote autonomy and quality of life.
In addition, home health care can be complemented with:
- Nursing services
- Physiotherapy sessions
- Emotional support visits with a psychologist
- Support and counseling service