Benefits Of Home-based Medical Care For Elderly Patients
- Admin
- 01 April, 2024
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As people get older, they become more dependent on others. It is rightly said that old age is like a second childhood. Just like a child needs its parents to look after its healthcare needs, an elderly patient needs support from their loved ones.
One of the best ways to give a sickly elderly member of your family such help is through elderly home care services. Home care services prevent patients and their family members from making multiple visits to hospitals and clinics. Instead of going to a doctor, doctors and their assistants reach out to the patients and help them get better from the comfort of their homes.
In the age of digitization, many healthcare professionals offer doctor on call services and home nursing care. Both these services are dedicated to treating a patient without making them leave their home. While doctors often connect with patients virtually with the help of advanced software tools, caregivers stay with the patient as long as their services are required. Depending on the patient’s health conditions, you can opt for short-term or long-term home care services.
Elderly patients are often sensitive and their health is prone to getting worse with time. Before you seek home nursing services for your loved ones, ensure that you get skilled and experienced professionals on board.
Let us have a look at a few reasons why home-based medical care is beneficial for elderly patients:
When an elderly individual falls ill, their family members are expected to do all the heavy lifting, including taking the patient to the hospital and staying with them until they get better. They also make multiple hospital visits, get their medicines, and do their best to help the patient recover in the best way possible.
With elderly home care services, family caregivers can breathe a sigh of relief. As they are already home, they need not make multiple rounds to the hospital. Moreover, many things that a patient needs may be readily available in or around the house. This makes things much easier for the elderly patient’s family. When family caregivers are relaxed, they can do their best to help their loved one recover faster.
Along with medical sensitivity, senior citizens also need emotional sensitivity while being treated. When a patient is treated at home, all their wishes are likely to be respected. As people get older, they prefer being treated the way they want. They want peace, calm, and comfort. These aspects also reflect on the speed at which they recover. Elderly home care services make this possible. They ensure that the elderly patient is as happy and satisfied as possible.
Just like a child is scared of the hospital, many elderly patients do not like staying in the hospital for too long. No matter how luxurious a hospital is, these patients always look forward to going back home.
Home health services for elderly patients resolve such issues. By keeping a patient in their home throughout the treatment and recovery, they keep them in a familiar environment. Healing in one’s own room is the best kind of healing one can get! A familiar environment makes a patient feel comfortable, keeping their physical and mental health sound.
If an elderly patient requires complex medical support, taking them to a dedicated facility is not the only way out. Many doctors, nurses, and caregivers offering home nursing services are trained in tackling complex health needs. Whether a patient needs to maintain an elaborate schedule, take multiple medications, or track their vitals throughout the day, dedicated caregivers can get the job done without making the patient leave their home.
Elderly home care services are not limited to diagnosing and treating a patient. They also involve helping patients with their activities of daily living (ADLs). These activities include tasks like dressing, grooming, going for a walk, brushing their teeth, bathing, and more.
It is safe to say that the caregivers offering these services turn into temporary family members for their patients. Elderly patients often need someone’s help to get even normal daily tasks done. Receiving such support from qualified professionals is always helpful.
Most elderly patients are scared of being alone for too long. They yearn for company, especially when they are ill. Elderly home care services prevent such issues from arising. When a patient is at home, they will always be around their loved ones. They will also have access to their neighbors who are ready to give them company.
If an elderly patient lives alone, they can also ask caregivers to stay with them and keep them company. Battling a disease alone can have a significant impact on an elderly patient’s health. Having someone to talk to and share problems with is always better to heal faster.
If someone elderly in your family falls ill and you live far away from them, you will feel helpless and extremely concerned. This is natural for all long-distance family members who cannot be with their loved ones in times of need.
With elderly home care services, such family members can feel a bit relieved. The caregivers looking after elderly patients assure them about their loved ones not being alone. When there is someone to look after your loved ones all day long, it makes you feel better and more relieved. Moreover, these caregivers often act as a link between elderly patients and their loved ones. Family members can receive all important updates about the concerned patient from these healthcare professionals.
Many elderly patients require a special diet to keep them healthy and help them recover faster. This may not always be possible at a hospital. Holistic in-home medical care often involves looking after a patient’s special nutritional needs. From preparing home-cooked meals and making a personalized diet plan, home caregivers ensure that their patients eat nothing but healthy. If needed, these professionals can also refer you to a trusted nutrition in your town.
When an elderly patient is admitted to a hospital, the scope for personalization is limited. While they receive personal attention from doctors and nurses, the professionals will always have multiple patients to look after.
In the case of home nursing services, the caregivers have only one patient to look after at a time. This increases the scope for personalization. All the services offered to an elderly patient at their home are tailored to their medical conditions and specific preferences. This is bound to increase the quality of healthcare services they receive.
COVID-19 has taught us the implications of what can happen if we take an infection lightly. Older people are generally more susceptible to infections. Taking them to a hospital might increase the risk of infections due to other patients at the facility.
This issue can be completely eliminated with elderly home care services. Here, a patient and the doctor can have complete control over the environment in which a patient stays throughout their recovery journey. Moreover, if an elderly patient is home, their family members will often do their best to keep the home sanitized to ensure speedy recovery.
Elderly home care services are ideal for patients and families who do not want to spend a fortune on hospital bills. Especially if you are looking for long-term nursing services, staying at a hospital can get too expensive. Home care services are relatively cheaper. You need not pay for a special bed (unless you seek services like ICU at home), which saves a lot of your money. By the time a patient recovers, you save a significant amount of money with elderly home care services.
Physical illness has a direct impact on an elderly patient’s mind. You must have seen older patients sulking or getting cranky for no reason. As mentioned earlier, most elderly patients do not like staying at a hospital. Prolonged hospitalization often isolates a patient, hampering their mental well-being.
When a patient is treated at home, these issues do not arise. They stay with their loved ones and in an environment they are most comfortable in. This gives them peace and significantly reduces their stress levels.
If you are looking for holistic home care services for an elderly family member, DocVille has some of the most experienced and qualified general physicians in Mumbai and Thane. With our team of dedicated healthcare experts, we ensure that your loved ones receive personalized medical care in the comfort of their homes. We understand how stressful it is for an elderly patient to go through their recovery journey. Along with being technically adept, our professionals also do their best to keep such patients company, making them feel slightly better every day!
