As its name suggests, home health nursing offers medical treatment and care from home. Home care nurses take care of patients from their homes. In this case, the patients can be either older people, disabled, recovering patients, or injured people. Home health nursing helps save the cost of visiting hospitals now and then. It also cut the extra medical bills that would be encountered. However, this program has its own merits and demerits.
Pros of home health nursing
1. More private: To patients, the program helps in promoting their health secrecy. Patients may be suffering from a disease that they do not want to disclose to the public. Home health nursing program ensures this is possible. In this program, only the nurse and the family members know about the patient’s whereabouts.
2. Familiar and cool environment: This is the greatest merit of receiving treatment from your home. You are familiar with the surroundings and people (family members). Therefore, you can enjoy your treatment by being surrounded by your favorite things like pets, people, beds, etc.
3. Involvement of family members: Home nursing program involves family members taking care of the patient. Since it is a home-based program, family members can socialize with their loved ones every time instead of when they are in hospital. It eases the recovery and healing process of patients. In addition, the hospital bill that would be incurred if patients relied on nurses for care is avoided.
4. Clean environment: Home health programs provide a clean and conducive healing environment. Many hospitals are congested, and the level of hygiene is very low. It puts patients at a higher risk of getting other diseases. Additionally, if there is a contagious disease, patients receiving their treatments from home are safer than those in the hospital.
5. Another source of income for nurses: family members recruit nurses to look at their patients in most cases. These nurses attend to the home patients during their shift hours, which increases their source of income.
6. Promotes independence: patients in hospitals suffer from a lack of independence to many things independently. They lay on the hospital bed all day as hospital nurses take care of them. In contrast, the Home Nursing program allows the patients to do whatever they want, and at any time they feel like it.
7. Improved care: People receiving home care get better treatment than their fellows in hospitals. In the hospital, the number of patients is high. Therefore, how they are taken care of is not that vital. On the other side, home nursing includes family members in taking care of the patient. By doing so, home-based patients can receive better treatment.
8. Flexibility: The flexibility of the Homecare program makes it one of the best programs for taking care of patients and older adults. Both patient and their family members can interact at any time as they do other things. The flexibility of this program makes the family members productive.
9. Less costly: in-home health programs, less cost, and expense are incurred. The hospital and other expensive treatments are reduced. The program is cost-effective as many types of equipment like beddings and food are readily available.
10. Reducing congestion in hospitals: Home health nursing reduces the number of patients in the hospital. Patients who would rather be in hospitals can receive their treatments while at home. Therefore, it helps to curb the problem of congestion in hospitals.
Cons of home health nursing
1. Not well equipped: the home nursing program is not equipped with all the tools needed to take care of the patient. Therefore, they directly depend on hospitals and other medical centers for these tools.
2. Cause of stress: Family members are likely to be stressed when they see their members suffering. With close interaction between family members and patient, the impact of the disease or disability is transferred to family members in stress.
3. Refusal of medical treatment: This is a common occurrence among patients receiving treatment from home. They are likely to ignore doctors’ prescriptions.
4. Not recognized by the Government: The Government plays a central role in financing all health operations in the health sector. In the case of home health nursing, the Government is not directly involved in the program. The family incurs more expenses in taking care of their patients.
5. Makes family less productive: In-home health program, family members spend most of their time looking after their sick or disabled relatives. Therefore, there is little or no time to do other beneficial activities. It reduces the family’s income, hence making family members less productive.
6. Added expenses: Though this health is considered the cheapest, it is not as many people say. Unlike in hospitals, where all expenses are covered under one bill, there is no bill in-home nursing. Therefore, the total cost of taking care of the patient is higher.
7. Patient’s condition: In some cases, the patient’s condition is not compatible with the home environment. Home health care may not afford all the needed in taking care of the patient in question; hence this would lead to poor treatment.
8. Shortage of nurses: The number of skilled nurses is lower than the available home-based programs. Therefore, most of the patients are not attended to. In-home care, nurses at least visit their patients once per week instead of hospitals where patients can see their nurses now and then.
9. Payment methods: Nurses working at home suffer from unpaid services. This is because there is no standard method of treatment that is used.
10. Cultural Differences: Cultural beliefs have directly affected the home health care program. In some communities, they restrict nurses from other tribes. The local nurses may not be skilled to handle all the dies, resulting in poor services and treatments.
11. Family Violence: families that experience violence now and then may not provide a conducive treatment and healing environment.
