Consensus-Based Safety Recommendations for Informal Home Care: A Mixed Methods Study.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare
• Patient Safety
• Risk Management

Background:

• Home-based care is expanding globally, increasing the burden on informal caregivers who often manage medical and nursing tasks.
• This shift raises significant concerns regarding patient safety and effective risk management in home settings.
• There is a critical need for structured safety guidance tailored to informal caregiving.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop expert-informed safety recommendations for informal caregivers in home settings.
• To identify potential errors and risks associated with common home caregiving procedures.
• To provide a foundation for creating evidence-based safety guidance for informal care.

Main Methods:

• A six-phase mixed-methods design was employed, integrating a Consensus Development Conference (CDC) with Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
• Thirteen healthcare professionals (nurses, physician, occupational therapist, social worker) participated in risk assessments and deliberations.
• Expert review refined initial recommendations, confirming procedures, failure modes, and associations.

Main Results:

• Fifteen caregiving domains and 53 home caregiving procedures were defined.
• 147 distinct failure modes (errors) were identified across these procedures.
• A final corpus of 288 expert-derived safety recommendations was consolidated.

Conclusions:

• The study generated a comprehensive set of 288 safety recommendations for informal home caregiving.
• These recommendations address critical areas such as medication administration and mobility.
• The findings provide expert guidance to improve safety and risk management in the expanding field of home-based care.