An Audit of Hospital in the Home Treatment in Respiratory Patients.

Abstract

Introduction/Aim: Treatment of patients by Hospital in the Home (HITH) may offer significant advantages over traditional inpatient admissions. The published data about the clinical utility of HITH in Respiratory patients is minimal. The aim of this study was to perform an audit of adult patients treated by HITH at Monash Health. Method(s): HITH patients were identified though the Departmental data bases. The scanned medical record was then used to identify demographic, patient and laboratory data about each admission. Result(s): Preliminary analysis identified 353 Respiratory patient admissions treated by HITH over a 5-year period from 2015 to 2020. In the preliminary analysis performed so far, all the HITH admissions utilized intravenous antibiotics (generally given by a peripheral line) with Ceftriaxone being the most commonly used (50%). The average age was 47+/- 20 yrs with 54% female subjects. The median length of stay was 8 days (7-14). The most common diagnosis was for treatment of cystic fibrosis (46%). The readmission rate of patients within a month was 16%. Conclusion(s): Hospital in the Home can be used successfully to treat a variety of infective exacerbations of respiratory disease.