Abstract: Background and Objectives: Home health care (HHC) is a wide range of health care services that can be given in home. HHC is usually less expensive, more convenient than hospital care and just as effective. The objective of this work is to analyze the awareness, willingness and clinical factors related with the implementations HHC for elderly patients at King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC).
Methods: The study was conducted at KSUMC during the period of October 2014 till December 2014. The target population was elderly patients of KSUMC, both male and female, who are over 60 and attending outpatient clinics or admitted in inpatient departments. By a convenient sampling technique, 420 participants were selected. The data was collected by pre-designed interviewing questionnaire which consisted of three sections. After ethical approval and informed consent, their responses about the need for home health care services were analyzed.
Results: Awareness of HHC was calculated in this study and showed that only 156 patients out of 420 patients (37.1%) heard about these services. The study showed that patients above 60 years old in KSUMC (93.1%) need at least one of the HHC services. The most frequently needed services were follow up of chronic diseases, by more than half of patients (52.6%) followed by the need of health education by 50.7% then dietary education and guidance by more than one third of the patients (38.1%). The commonest health problems among elderly patients in the present study were diabetes mellitus (DM) ; 43.3% followed by stroke and heart diseases; 32.1% then respiratory conditions in 16.4%.
Conclusions: The results of the study show poor knowledge of elderly patients about HHC services. They also show that the majority of the patients are in need of HHC services, and in case of need of the services; the majority seek care from outpatient clinics or emergency department in KSUMC which could over-burden these services in KSUMC.
Keywords: Home health care (HHC), Elderly Patients’ Awareness and Opinion, King Saud University Medical City (KSUMC).
Title: Elderly Patients’ Awareness and Opinion about the Need of Home Health Care and Associated Clinical and Demographic Factors
Author: Ahmad Omar Bogari, Abdulaziz Mishari Al-Angari, Alaa Sulaiman Al-Dhaefi, Ali Shalan Alshamrani, Omar Ahmed AL-Rashood
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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