Patient, Family Caregiver and Health Care Provider Experiences With a Hospital at Home Program in British Columbia,...

The Hospital at Home (HaH) model of care is used worldwide to introduce a patient centered style of care outside of the traditional hospital setting. HaH has been shown to improve the health care experience of patients, family caregivers (FCGs) and health care providers (HCPs). Island Health's HaH surpassed the milestone of enrolling 2600 patients in September 2024. We previously published the preliminary results of patient and FCG experiences with HaH and the processes and timelines in the development of experience surveys.15 The AT-HOME research team has continued to work towards improving the HaH model of care by collaborating with participants and implementing feedback.

In this paper, we discuss the results of implementing a prospective survey over 18 months (October 2021-April 2023) using a convenience sample method to assess patient and FCG experiences with the Island Health HaH program and give an overview of HCP experience. Patient and FCG experience are reported among many themes, such as admission, care quality, medication management, technology, intravenous treatment/infection prevention, discharge, FCG roles and responsibilities, and overall experience.

This paper reports that 100% of patients (n = 266) and 98% of FCG (n = 142) would recommend HaH to their friends and family, and 98% of patients (n = 262) and 97% of FCG (n = 144) would choose to be admitted to HaH if they were in the same position again. Similarly, 100% of HCP (n = 40) would recommend HaH to friends/family who require care and meet the criteria. Overall, patients, FCG and HCP continued to report having a positive experience with the HaH program and provided vital feedback for further improvement.

The HaH model of care is newly implemented in hospitals in Victoria, BC, Canada, and has been shown to positively impact the experience of patients, FCGs, and HCPs.