Telephone assessment of parents' knowledge of home-care treatments and readmission outcomes for high-risk infants and toddlers
S. Kun and D. Warburton
Medical technology is enabling many high-risk infants and toddlers to be
cared for at home. However, techniques for evaluation of home-care and
discharge-planning outcomes have not been well documented. Using 60
subjects, we performed telephone assessment of home-care givers' knowledge
base in basic knowledge of treatment, operation and maintenance of supplies
and equipment, and vendor information, using standard questions, 48 hours
following discharge from the hospital. Families giving apnea monitoring or
Broviac catheter care as a single treatment scored 100% in all three areas.
However, the scores for care givers providing gastrostomy care (54%, 100%,
and 91%), tracheostomy care (80%, 70%, and 50%), or total parenteral
nutrition (88%, 50%, and 100%) as single treatments were lower. Care givers
providing multiple home-care treatments had the lowest scores (65%, 65%,
and 76%). However, care givers of patients who were subsequently readmitted
scored well (80%, 85%, and 85%), and none of the readmissions were due to a
failure of home-care management. Telephone assessment 48 hours after
discharge can be used to document home-care and discharge-planning outcomes
for high-risk infants and toddlers.
