Evolving the delivery of acute care services in the home

To serve escalating acute care caseloads, physicians affiliated with one Canadian home care program have piloted a project to integrate physician services into the home (IPSITH). This paper presents the 18-month qualitative evaluation. Phenomenological methodology and in-depth interviewing were used to construct a holistic interpretation of the implementation from the experiences of all involved: patients, family caregivers, physicians, case managers, community nurses and the project's nurse practitioner. Findings revealed the central role of the nurse practitioner, who served as a clinical expert, care coordinator and case manager. Several unsolved issues were identified: the extent to which home care is a viable alternative to hospitalization, the feasibility of physician involvement, redundancies with hospital emergency services, and the limitations of system resources for funding such services. The researchers conclude that full-scale long-term integration of physician services in the home may require macro-level decisions about system design, resource allocation, and professional regulations.