Years ago, patients who required advanced medical therapies like feeding tubes, IV infusions, and mechanical ventilation were cared for in the hospital or a long term care facility. Today, these patients can stay at home with the support of an interdisciplinary home care team. Not only is their care cost effective, but they enjoy a higher quality of life than their hospitalized peers. The demand for home health care services has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic as inpatient hospital beds have become scarce. Of course, there is a corresponding need for home care clinicians who can provide the advanced care that these patients require. As a result, training programs are adding home care rooms to their sim labs to help students practice outside acute care settings. Continue reading to learn more about why this is important and how to create a home care sim lab of your own. 

1. Growing need for home care clinicians

As the cost of health care continues to rise, facilities must work to improve care coordination and discharge planning for patients. To ensure that they do this, hospitals are now financially penalized if they have higher than expected readmission rates following heart attack, pneumonia, bypass surgery, or joint replacement. Home health care can be the solution for preventing relapses and complications that require patients to be rehospitalized. In fact, a recent study showed that home care not only reduced readmission rates by 60% but also led to 11% lower costs over the 90 day span (1). As a result, the home health industry is expected to grow much faster than other occupations over the next decade, with a need for almost 600,000 clinicians each year. 

2. Interdisciplinary practice for all age groups

Effective home care requires careful coordination of an interdisciplinary team that includes registered nurses as well as physical, occupational, and respiratory therapists. Each clinician brings specific skills and expertise to the team in order to provide a seamless continuum of care for the patient. This is particularly important because patients who receive home care tend to be older and sicker than other patient populations. However, many home health providers specialize in caring for medically fragile children who require constant monitoring and assistance. Others provide support to new mothers and their babies to assist with breastfeeding and recovery after childbirth. 

3. Independent practice with critical thinking

Unlike clinicians who work in healthcare facilities, home care providers work alone in the field without direct assistance from their colleagues. They have a great deal of autonomy in their practice and physicians rely on them to assess the patients and communicate their findings. As patients are being discharged with increasingly complex care needs, the skill set required for effective home health care is rapidly expanding. Providers must use their clinical and critical thinking skills to manage problems like oxygen desaturation, seizure activity, and problems with mechanical ventilation. In addition, they need to include the patient and primary caregiver in the decision making process for care, unlike in the hospital where physicians are in charge. 

4. Ensuring patient safety at home

A fundamental tenet for clinicians is that patient safety at home is as important as when they are hospitalized. A careful assessment of the home environment is needed to identify safety risks like excess clutter, loose throw rugs, and dim lighting. Clinicians must determine if grab bars are needed in the bathroom and if the doorways are wide enough to accommodate the patient’s wheelchair, walker or lift. A common challenge in home health care is unsanitary household conditions, especially unsafe medication storage and disposal of used syringes. Clinicians must maintain a supportive, non-judgmental manner as they help patients and their families make needed changes to their home environment. This can be difficult for students and new providers as they enter homes that are very different from their own.  

5. DiaMedical USA makes it easy

DiaMedical USA has all of the medical supplies and equipment to create realistic home care environments in simulation learning labs. For starters, students can learn how home care hospital beds like the HC107 Hi-Lo Hospital Bed can be lowered to just a few inches above the floor to prevent serious injuries when patients try to get out of bed without help. Students also need to practice using patient lifts and sit-to-stand devices in home environments, as there is usually significantly less space than in hospital rooms. A wheelchair with flip-back arms like the Blue Streak is essential so that students can master lateral transfers with a slide board. Finally, DiaMedical USA carries mechanical ventilators that are commonly used in home care, including the Carefusion LTV 1150 and Trilogy 100 along with the Respironics T70 Cough Assist device. 

Final thoughts

The COVID-19 pandemic has served as an innovation catalyst for the homecare industry and has spotlighted its importance in the healthcare continuum. The need for home health services will continue to grow as Americans of all ages realize the benefits of being treated in the comfort and privacy of their own homes. Simulated home care environments are valuable teaching tools to help students gain hands-on experience and practice the complex skills that are required of today’s clinicians. Home care training simulations allow students to build both confidence and knowledge for safe clinical practice after graduation. Towards this goal, the DiaMedical USA team is ready to help educators balance cost and functionality in order to create a home care simulation lab that meets their needs. For more information, reach out to a DiaMedical USA expert at 877-593-6011 or info@diamedicalusa.com.