Plain language summary about the use and difficulties of medicines given as an injection in Hospital-at-Home

<b>What is this summary about?</b> This is a summary of an article originally published in the <i>American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy</i>. Hospital-at-Home (HaH) involves giving hospital-type care to patients at home. At home, patients often need injections. Injections can be given under the skin or into the muscle or vein with a needle. An injection could be given quickly or over longer periods of time. Patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare staff face many problems in managing such injections in HaH. <b>What are the key takeaways?</b> A doctor or nurse normally gives an injection to a patient. Each time an injection needs to be given, doctors or nurses may need to visit patients’ homes. If an injection needs to be given many times a day, this means many visits to patients’homes. To manage this, sometimes patients and caregivers are trained to give injections by themselves. Some injections may be given over a longer time or as continuous <b>infusions</b> through a pump. This allows fewer visits by healthcare staff.
Transport and storage of such injections at home also needs special care. In the same way, some medicines that need to be stored safely require special care. Care should be taken to avoid risk of infection from regular visits of doctors and healthcare staff.Medical waste must be carefully disposed of to prevent pollution. <b>What were the main conclusions reported by the researchers?</b> This study describes the authors’ view of the problems with using injections, along with suggested solutions. These solutions may help healthcare staff and benefit patients and caregivers involved in HaH care. <b>Who is this article for?</b> This study may be helpful for patients receiving HaH care and their caregivers,and healthcare staff involved in HaH. This is an abstract of the Plain Language Summary of Publication article. View the full Plain Language Summary PDF of this article to read the full-text