BTS GUIDELINES

Intermediate care—Hospital-at-Home in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: British Thoracic Society guideline

British Thoracic Society Guideline Development Group^*

Correspondence to:
Dr R Stevenson
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK; robin.stevenson@northglasgow.scot.nhs.uk

Received 5 May 2006

Accepted 23 August 2006

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; hospital-at-home; guidelines

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Intermediate care is a treatment model which bridges the interface between hospital and community care. It often involves cooperation between hospital doctors, general practitioners, nurses, physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals. A specific subtype of intermediate care is Hospital-at-Home (HaH), where active treatment is provided by healthcare professionals in the patient’s home for a condition that otherwise would require hospital care, always for a limited period.

In 2003 a Cochrane systematic review concluded that HaH was a safe and effective treatment approach for selected patients with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and suggested that one in four patients presenting to hospital as an emergency would be suitable for home treatment with nursing support,¹ although some felt that this was an underestimate of eligibility for HaH (Stevenson, 2005).

In 2004 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) COPD guidelines² included appraisal of HaH in exacerbations of COPD. A distinction was . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Airwaves

Wisia Wedzicha
Thorax 2007 62: 193. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bakerly, N. D., Davies, C., Dyer, M., Dhillon, P. (2009). Cost analysis of an integrated care model in the management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chronic Respiratory Disease 6: 201-208 [Abstract]  
• Escarrabill, J. (2009). Discharge planning and home care for end-stage COPD patients. Eur Respir J 34: 507-512 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Scullion, J (2009). Does community management of COPD exacerbations really prevent hospital admission?. Chronic Respiratory Disease 6: 67-68  
• Morgan, M. (2008). Integrated care for COPD. What exactly do we mean?. Chronic Respiratory Disease 5: 131-132  
• Simonds, A. K., Cowie, M. R. (2008). Taboo: crossing the specialty barrier. Eur Respir J 31: 1153-1154 [Full Text]  
• Halpin, D M G (2008). Community care for COPD: the good, the bad and the ugly. Thorax 63: 187-189 [Full Text]  
• Lynch, J. (2008). Diagnosis and management of COPD. InnovAiT 1: 222-232 [Full Text]