Does pediatric home care make a difference for children with chronic illness? Findings from the Pediatric Ambulatory Care Treatment Study. Home oxygen for children with acute bronchiolitis. Stress-point intervention for parents of repeatedly hospitalized children with chronic conditions. An economic evaluation of home care for children with newly diagnosed diabetes: results from a randomized controlled trial. Randomised controlled trial comparing an acute paediatric hospital at home scheme with conventional hospital care. Delivery of care to hemophilic children: home care versus hospitalization. Hospital and home chemotherapy for children with leukemia: a randomized cross-over study.
The ongoing care needed by children with chronic physical illness is a topic of national concern. The Pediatric Ambulatory Care Treatment Study ( PACTS ) is a classic pretest-posttest randomized experiment designed to evaluate a Pediatric Home Care (PHC) program in which an interdisciplinary team provides comprehensive primary health care, support, coordination, patient advocacy, and education to chronically ill children and their families. Home interviews were conducted by an independent research team with the 219 families at enrollment, 6 months, and 1 year; 80% completed all three interviews. Analyses indicate that pediatric home care is effective in improving the satisfaction of the family with care, in improving the child's psychological adjustment, and in lessening the psychiatric symptoms of the mother. The functional status of the children was equally well maintained in both groups, and there was no significant difference in the impact of the illness on the family between the two groups. There are indications that there may be a dose-related effect with respect to the child's psychological adjustment with those in the program for the longest period of time showing the greatest benefit. Such a home care program can be an effective intervention for minimizing the social and psychological consequences of chronic illness. A prospective randomised controlled pilot study was performed comparing home oxygen therapy with traditional inpatient hospitalisation for children with acute bronchiolitis. Children aged 3-24 months with acute bronchiolitis, still requiring oxygen supplementation 24 h after admission to hospital, were randomly assigned to receive oxygen supplementation at home with support from "hospital in the home" (HiTH) or to continue oxygen supplementation in hospital. 44 children (26 male, mean age 9.2 months) were recruited (HiTH n = 22) between 1 August and 30 November 2007. Only one child from each group was readmitted to hospital and there were no serious complications. Children in the HiTH group spent almost 2 days less in a hospital bed than those managed as traditional inpatients: HiTH 55.2 h (interquartile range (IQR) 40.3-88.9) versus in hospital 96.9 h (IQR 71.2-147.2) p = 0.001. Home oxygen therapy appears to be a feasible alternative to traditional hospital oxygen therapy in selected children with acute bronchiolitis. Little is known about how to assist children with chronic conditions and their families cope with repeated hospitalizations. A two-group, pretest-posttest study was done to determine whether a community-based, stress-point nursing intervention for parents could decrease distress and improve child and family functioning. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care control groups. The intervention focused on specific, parent-verified child and family issues. Three months after hospitalization, intervention parents had better coping and family functioning than those in the usual care group. Intervention parents' anxiety was initially higher and then lower. There were no child behavior differences between the groups after hospitalization. Intervention children had no developmental regression at 2 weeks and better developmental gains 3 months after discharge than the usual care children. Stress-point intervention for families and their children with chronic conditions improved family coping and functioning, and eliminated hospitalization-induced developmental regression. This study was undertaken to determine the health and cost effects of using home care to treat newly diagnosed Type I diabetic children rather than traditional inpatient hospital care. There had been no well-designed evaluations of home care for such children, and very few for children with other health conditions.
                Sixty-three children seen at the Montreal Children's Hospital were randomly assigned at diagnosis to home care or traditional inpatient care. The children in the former group were discharged once their metabolic condition stabilized; insulin adjustments and teaching were done in their homes by a trained nurse. The children in the latter group remained hospitalized for insulin adjustments and teaching. All were followed for 24 months. The cost effects were estimated using hospital and parental data.
                Social costs were only $48 higher with home care. It had little effect on social costs, because the increased costs of health care services with home care ($768) were largely offset by parental cost savings ($720). Home care improved the children's metabolic outcomes without adversely affecting their psychosocial outcomes.
                Using home care to reduce hospital stays for children with newly diagnosed Type I diabetes improved the children's health outcomes without significantly increasing social costs. To assess the clinical effectiveness of a paediatric hospital at home service compared to conventional hospital care.
                A total of 399 children suffering from breathing difficulty (n = 202), diarrhoea and vomiting (n = 125), or fever (n = 72) were randomised to Hospital at Home or in-patient paediatric care. Main outcome measures were: comparative clinical effectiveness as measured by readmission rate within three months (used as a proxy for parental coping with illness); and length of stay/care and comparative satisfaction of both patients and carers.
                Clinical effectiveness of both services was not significantly different. Length of care was one day longer in the Hospital at Home group; however, most parents and children preferred home care.
                Hospital at Home is a clinically acceptable form of care for these groups of acute paediatric illness. Readmission rates within three months failed to show any advantage in terms of parental coping. Parents and patients expressed a strong preference for hospital at home. nan The study objective was to compare a hospital-based and a home-based chemotherapy program for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in relation to Quality of Life (QOL), safety, caregiver burden, and costs.
                A randomized cross-over trial (RCT) design with repeated measures was conducted with 23 children with ALL who attended the oncology outpatient clinic of a metropolitan university affiliated tertiary level pediatric hospital and who also received home visits from a community health services care provider in central Canada.
                During the home-treatment phase, children were more capable of maintaining their usual routines than when receiving hospital chemotherapy (Wilcoxon statistic = 80, P = 0.023), but they appeared to experience greater emotional distress (Wilcoxon sign rank statistic S = 66, P = 0.043) according to parental report. Treatment location had no effect on caregiver burden and adverse effects. No significant differences between groups existed with respect to societal costs of care. As the child's age increased, QOL improved relative to younger children (t(20) = -2.37, P = 0.02), the time burden related to child care tasks was reduced (t(21) = -3.56, P = 0.002), caregiver effort/difficulty in physical and behavioral support decreased (t(21) = -2.09, P = 0.049) and the odds of experiencing one or more adverse events decreased (OR = 0.79, CI = (0.63-1.00), chi(1) (2) = 4.01, P = 0.045).
                With few differences noted between groups, these results indicate preliminary support for administrating some or all of a child's chemotherapy at home. Home chemotherapy was associated with specific improvements and decrements in parent reported QOL. No effects were seen on burden of care, adverse events, or cost. Overall, young age adversely affected QOL, burden of care, and adverse events. These data provide important information to families and caregivers as they consider home or hospital-based therapy in childhood ALL.
Current research does not provide supporting evidence for a reduction in access to hospital services or a reduction in hospital readmission rate for children with acute and chronic illnesses using specialist home-based nursing services; however, the only summary finding across a few studies was that there is a significant decrease in length of hospitalisation. The preliminary results show no adverse impact on physical health outcomes and a number of papers reported improved satisfaction with home-based care. Further trials are required, measuring health, satisfaction, service utilisation and long-term costs.