Abstract
Early in the pandemic when hospitals reached capacity, Home Health Care (HHC) became a critical source of care for COVID-19 patients and continues to be an important source of care for recovering COVID-19 patients. Little is known about the COVID-19 patient population treated in HHC. This retrospective observational cohort follows 1614 HHC patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis and compares an “Early Cohort” between March 31 and May 31, 2020 to a “Late Cohort” between June 1 and December 31, 2020 for differences in: (1) sociodemographic and clinical characteristics (2) health care utilization, and (3) outcomes. Early patients were younger, more likely to be a minority, referred from hospitals or directly from emergency departments, started their care with greater independence in functional abilities, and had fewer comorbidities. Early patients were more likely to have COVID-19 as their primary diagnosis (88.5% vs. 79.4%, p < 0.001), and were assessed as having more severe COVID-19 symptoms. Early and Late Cohorts were assessed similarly for dyspnea at the start of care. COVID-19 patients in the Early Cohort were more likely to have their vital signs monitored remotely (7.3% vs. 1.4%; p < 0.001), have received oxygen in their home (27.8% vs. 15.3%; p < 0.001), and received more virtual care than patients in the Late Cohort (2.04 visits vs. 0.86 visits; p < 0.001), although they had approximately two fewer total visits (12.48 vs. 14.45; p < 0.001). Patients in both cohorts had substantial improvement in dyspnea and functional ability during the course of HHC.
Keywords: COVID-19; activities of daily living; homecare; interventions diseases; nursing care.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, homecare, Activities of Daily Living, interventions diseases, nursing care., 【초록키워드】 pandemic, Clinical characteristics, hospital, Comorbidities, Diagnosis, oxygen, activity, outcomes, Cohort, Health, Dyspnea, Patient, COVID-19 diagnosis, Virtual care, vital sign, Care, Critical, COVID-19 patients, retrospective, COVID-19 patient, COVID-19 patient population, Sociodemographic, severe COVID-19 symptoms, home, Course, greater, treated, functional, reached, were assessed, 【제목키워드】 outcome, Patient, home, comparable,