Hospital at Home is an innovative care model that enables hospital-level care to be provided from the comfort of your own home. Through in-person and virtual visits, you will receive safe, effective care from health-care providers experienced in hospital medicine and acute care. Despite being at home, you will still be “admitted” to the hospital, and remain the under the care of a hospital physician.
If you or your loved-one needs to be admitted to Victoria General Hospital and meet the eligibility criteria, you may be offered the alternative of receiving care at home. Participation is completely voluntary.
The hospital team, which includes physicians, nurses and pharmacists highly experienced in hospital medicine, will look after you both in-person and through virtual care methods.
Therapies and tests, such as vital signs monitoring, supplemental oxygen, IV medications and lab work, are all done while you stay in your home. You remain registered as a hospital patient, and can return to the hospital if required.
Hospital at Home has been successfully implemented in other countries including Australia and across Europe. Many research studies have shown that it provides the same or better care than traditional hospitalization, including three Cochrane reviews, which represent the highest standard in evidence-based health care.
Some benefits include:
• A more patient-centred approach to hospital care
• Lower rates of hospital-based complications (infection, delirium or blood clots)
• Reduced pressures on our hospital beds and emergency departments
We are seeking the input from patients, their families and health-care staff as we develop the Hospital at Home program. We want to know what is important to you as we develop this innovative model of providing hospital care, the first of its kind in British Columbia. Your personal experiences and opinions, both as health-system users and health-care providers, matter to us and will ensure our Hospital at Home program is as relevant and effective as possible.
Speak to your care team to find out if Hospital at Home meets your care needs.
Questions about the Hospital at Home service can be directed to HaHEvaluation@viha.ca.
The Hospital at Home service will begin with nine “virtual” patient beds registered out of Victoria General Hospital.
