In all situations when we are faced with the challenge of making a decision, the main matters of consideration are the pros and cons it will cause. Therefore to make a rewarding decision, one has to go through a proper decision-making process which involves analyzing all the criteria involved, advantages and disadvantages that may be involved.
The conclusion as to needing home health care would therefore require understanding what home health care even means and why it may be needed.
Home Health Care Defined
Home health care entails offering health and social support in the home. This imperative assistance can help individuals of any age recuperate from medical procedure, ailment, or injury in the solace of their own home.
Advantages of Home Healthcare
- People can stay in the comfort of their own home and keep up a level of freedom which can be extremely helpful as it lets them be near to family members and things they love.
- The patient and family can have their choices to make in picking home care provider and ultimately get a better quality of care as they can develop personal relationships with the home care provider. Someone receiving home health care will get one-on-one attention and health matters can be discussed better.
- There are no restrictions to visitation hours, so family and friends can come visit any time which can help prevent loneliness.
- It has been proven that health test results are better with fewer complications when home care is provided.
- Research has shown that clinical results are comparable or better with fewer complications when home care is provided to individuals.
Disadvantages of Home Healthcare
- In cases of emergency, this can be a great disadvantage as there is usually no access to a larger team of medically trained professionals available at home.
- If just one caregiver is assigned to a home, especially if the patient lives alone, if it happens that the homecare giver is not very much competent, it can cause even medical issues.
From these indices, conclusion can be drawn that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and decision as to hire home care services will be an individual thing.
We at MyMedicalBank (a Nigerian health tech company) have deployed a digital platform named MMB HomeCare to provide home care services and help our clients book appointments with trained and certified healthcare professionals like doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and home care attendants to attend to them or their loved ones in the comfort of their own home.
Do you think there are other advantages or disadvantages of home-based healthcare? We will like to hear from you, kindly leave your comments below!
Article written by Timmy Ayantunji, Software Engineering Intern at MyMedicalBank.
It’s nice that you pointed out how there are no restrictions to visitation hours with home care, so family and friends could come to visit any time which could help prevent loneliness. My grandfather is currently recovering from surgery and we need someone to take care of him while we work. So with that in mind, we are thinking of hiring a home healthcare professional.