If you are not familiar with the term, “home visit” or “house call”, it is essentially a visit to a patient or client’s home carried out by either a doctor or a professional.
Home visits by doctors were more common decades ago, proven true in world history from the 1950s to the early 1980s.
However, these days many doctor visits are not carried out so often unless due to special circumstances. Small clinics have also been diminishing in numbers.
Most doctors these days prefer working for large hospitals and eventually prefer to stay on in their postings there rather than go out and about treating patients in their homes.
Back in the day, the purpose of home visits were similar to the visits people make today to the clinic or hospital either to seek treatment for a flu or severe disease.
These days though, a doctor will only make a home visit to perform check-ups on bedridden patients, who are unable to go to clinics or hospitals for diagnosis and treatment.
Just like any issue that is debatable, there are two sides in regard to whether doctor home visits should be brought back as a norm.
Here are some pros and cons as food for thought in regard to this matter.
Advantages
- Patients can access medical care much more readily.
- Reduced hassle for elderly patients or patients with disabilities having to travel to clinics or hospitals.
- Better examination at home rather than at a clinic or hospital setting. This is especially true for obese patients.
- Doctor or physician is able to identify lifestyle problems and propose solutions.
- Increases self-morale of doctor or physician knowing that patients are comfortable.
- Make family members feel more comfortable too.
Disadvantages
- Misuse of services as more patients want and expect home visits for even minor or trivial reasons.
- Patients may expect services that are not provided for example, coming over to their homes at any time they prefer with no regard to the doctor or physician’s schedule
House calls by a doctor or nurse are particularly beneficial for elderly people who have more difficulty in getting to a clinic, the doctor’s office or a hospital.
Prudent use of house calls can be beneficial to all parties even if the days of house calls are considered long over.
This article was written by Andrew Mastrandonas, Co-founder and CEO of Pillar (www.pillarcare.com) and reviewed by Dr Lim Geng Yan (M.D). Pillar provides a range of elderly home caregiving services, sending trained and certified professional caregivers and nurses to clients’ homes. For more information please visit https://care.pillarcare.com/fmtpromo