Pediatric Home Care: Results of a National Evaluation of Programs for Ventilator-Assisted Children, 1974-1983

This collection examines three programs designed to facilitate the discharge of ventilator-assisted children to the home or a homelike alternative. Program personnel, advisory board members, and the primary caregivers of the children were interviewed as part of the evaluation. This study is the first comprehensive and systematic effort of its kind to develop a conceptual and methodological approach to gathering data on this new population of technology-assisted children. The ultimate outcomes examined were the ventilator-assisted child's quality of life, the stress and adaptation experienced by the care- giver(s) and family unit, and the cost-effectiveness of the alternative home care arrangements relative to traditional inpatient care.