Sunday, April 1, 2018

Providing hospital-level treatment at home for very sick patients - The Washington Post

Phyllis Petruzzelli spent the week before Christmas struggling to breathe. When she went to the emergency department on Dec. 26, the doctor at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital near her home in Boston said she had pneumonia and needed hospitalization. Then the doctor proposed something that made Petruzzelli nervous. Instead of being admitted to the hospital, she could go back home and let the hospital come to her.

As a "hospital-at-home" patient, Petruzzelli learned, doctors and nurses would come to her home twice a day and perform any needed tests or bloodwork.

A wireless patch would be affixed to her skin to track her vital signs and send a steady stream of data to the hospital. If she had any questions, she could talk via video chat anytime with a nurse or doctor.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/hospitals-are-germy-noisy-places-some-acutely-ill-patients-are-getting-treated-at-home-instead/2018/03/30/5fcb5006-2155-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?