Erschienen:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022
Erschienen in:BMC Geriatrics
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.1186/s12877-022-02907-w
ISSN:
1471-2318
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Objective</jats:title>
<jats:p>The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of home-based care providers (HBCP) in providing care to older adults during the pandemic in order to inform future disaster planning, including during pandemics.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Design</jats:title>
<jats:p>Qualitative inquiry using an abductive analytic approach.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Setting and participants</jats:title>
<jats:p>Home-based care providers in COVID-19 hotspots.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>Telephone interviews were conducted with 27 participants (administrators, registered nurses and other members of the allied healthcare team), who provided in-home care during the pandemic in Medicare-certified home health agencies. Interviews focused on eliciting experiences from HBCP on challenges and successes in providing home-based care to older adults, including barriers to care and strategies employed to keep patients, and providers, safe in their homes during the pandemic.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Data was distilled into four major themes that have potential policy and practice impact. These included disrupted aging-in-place resources, preparedness actions contributing to readiness for the pandemic, limited adaptability in administrative needs during the pandemic and challenges with unclear messaging from public health officials.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>Home-based care plays an essential role in maintaining the health of older adults in disaster contexts, including pandemics. Innovative solutions, informed by policy that generate evidence-based best practices to support HBCP are needed to reduce barriers and increase protective factors, in order to maintain continuity of care for this vulnerable population during disruptive events.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>