Preparing for Hospital at Home: A Review of the Current Landscape of Training Practices.

Abstract

Hospital at Home (HaH) is a model of care that provides hospital-level care in the patient's home, requiring a unique set of competencies and skills from both multidisciplinary care teams and informal caregivers. These skills are often different from those required in traditional hospital settings. The aim of this paper is to consolidate the information of HaH-related education and training to support the development of standardized curricula to ensure safe hospitalization at home. We compiled relevant information from the scientific literature on HaH approaches and studies and conducted a web search. Our results indicate that healthcare professionals are trained in short training sessions, covering specific skills needed in the HaH context. These skills comprise, among others, communication, medication safety, infection control, and wound care. Patients and their families receive training in recognizing symptoms of deterioration and self-care. Concrete guidelines or standardized training programs are still missing. Future research should thus focus on developing standardized HaH training protocols and programs for both staff and patients to ensure patient safety at home.