Department for home treatment, nursing and palliative care

This Service provides health care services for the sick, partially or totally unable to move old adults in their homes. This mode of care is also a part of the prolonged inpatient treatment and can be called “hospital at home”.

In providing health care, the Service renders preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic services and palliative care.

The Service operates through the coordinated activities of its three departments:

ADMISSION AND GERIATRIC ASSESSMENT TEAM

The visit is intended to assess health condition and the functional ability and social conditions of the older adult and determine indications for admittance or recommend other solutions of the problems.

HOME TREATMENT, NURSING AND PALLIATIVE CARE UNIT

Operation of the A,B,C,D,E,F and G Departments (according to the territorial principle) includes a wide range of activities of the specialised teams of doctors (general practitioners and internists) and nurses educated for geriatric services, who implement diagnostic (ECG, laboratory tests, ambulatory blood preassure and ECG measurement equipment, ultrasound, Doppler ultrasound of blood vessels, spirometry) and therapeutical procedures in home environment of the diseased, and the process of health care (treatment of decubitus ulcer, infusions, i.m. injections, daily assessment of the physical and mental condition of the patients, general and special care covering full medical services of progressive care, both standard and semi-intensive).

DENTAL CARE UNIT

Mobile dentists who are educated to work with the older people and use the portable equipment, make preventive examinations of the old in their homes, render stomatological services, perform urgent treatment and prosthetic rehabilitation.

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Home Treatment, Nursing and Palliative Care Unit has the following teams.

Team for Social Work

Social workers of the Institute work together with the Teams for admission of the old adult patients on assessing their individual social welfare conditions. They are, also, directly involved in the treatment process, nursing and palliative care and work on resolving those social problems which affect not only the process of treatment and nursing, but also the quality of life of any elderly person with serious disease and functional dependency. For that purpose, they actively cooperate with the public-health visiting-nurse services in the health centres, professional services from the Health Insurance Institute, Social Work Centres and other institutions.

Team for Therapy and Special Care

Depending on the health and functional condition of the diseased, with serious or terminal illness, who do not want the inpatient care or when hospitalisation is not possible, intensive treatment and special nursing with appropriate care are organised at home.

Team of dieticians

Dieticians are involved in the treatment process of the Institute’s patients and work closely with the doctors and nurses on applying hygienic-dietetic measures to prevent complications in chronically ill patients. Dieticians identify individual and family nutrition habits, determine nutritional status, take anthropometric measurements, make dietetic programs subject to the main disease and inspect application of the hygienic-dietetic measures.