Integrated Home Health Assistance
Home Care is the starting point of the government reform in the field of health in Italy, following the health emergency. It is divided into Home Care Services and Integrated Home Health Assistance Services.
Index of Contents
- Home Care Services
- Integrated Home Health Assistance
- The advantages of Integrated Home Health Assistance
- The main health professionals of Integrated Home Health Assistance
Home Care Services
Home Care Services aim to help the patient carry out daily activities, at least partially relieving the family of the care burden.
It is aimed at people with disabilities and/or with physical, psychological and psychological illnesses.
The provision of services takes place at the person’s home and is aimed at overcoming difficult situations, improve states of prolonged and/or chronic discomfort and, above all, to avoid hospitalisation or at least, delay the need for it.
Integrated Home Health Assistance consists of:
- medical and socio-health interventions provided to the assisted person, in their preferred place to carry out these activities, by health and social professionals integrated with each other (general doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, social assistant, specialist doctor, etc.);
- social, welfare, socio-health and medical services for the purpose of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of people.
Integrated Home Health Assistance is aimed at people of any age:
- non self-sufficient (total or partial), for any period of time;
- unable to walk or to be transported to hospital / outpatient facilities;
- assisted daily by a caregiver;
- in suitable housing / office conditions.
The advantages of Integrated Home Health Assistance
Integrated Home Health Assistance is characterised by the integration of the services offered, linked to the needs of the assisted person to whom it is addressed, with the aim of avoiding, as far as possible, the person’s hospitalisation or his placement in a care facility (rehabilitation institutes, residences).
An integrated and coordinated set of several professional figures: multidisciplinary medical team, defined as the Multidimensional Assessment Unit, dealing with:
- global care of the assisted person in his physical, psychological, social, family and environmental spheres;
- multidimensional assessment of the subject, in order to examine the clinical situation, taking into account various aspects, including his physical and psychological health and socio-environmental factors;
- creation of an Individualised Care Plan (ICP) or Individual Rehabilitation Plan (IRP), that is specific and personalised, unitary and integrated (shared among health and social operators), useful for identifying the objectives of care / assistance and aimed at improving the quality of life of the person, as well as to “humanise” the treatment of cures and therapies, in a more suitable and intimate family or work context.
The Integrated Home Health Assistance services allow the assisted person to:
- take advantage of the continuity of necessary care, in their chosen place and in the presence of known people;
- receive health and social assistance support useful for the best recovery and stabilisation of one’s autonomy, avoiding repeated hospitalisations which very often destabilise and disorientate.
The main health professionals of Integrated Home Health Assistance
- Nurse;
- Healthcare Assistant (HCA);
- Psychologist;
- Social Assistant;
- General Doctor or Free Choice Pediatrician;
- Specialised Doctor;
- Physiotherapist;
- Speech Therapist.