Home Hospitalization: One Year Balance of the First Portuguese Unit

Abstract

Introduction: Home hospitalization is an alternative to conventional
hospitalization of acute patients that emerged in
the 40’s of the 20th century in the United States of America.
The adherence of American and European hospitals to this
approach has been growing and has proven to be safe, effective,
and responsive to a large number of acute medical
conditions avoiding all the problems inherent in conventional
hospitalization.
Material and Methods: In Portugal, Hospital Garcia de Orta
pioneered the creation of this first Home Hospitalization
Unit (UHD) in 2015 and by the end of one year has already
gained a more consolidated experience with a growing number
of admitted patients with varied acute medical pathology.
The authors present in this article the casuistry of one year
of hospitalization.
Results: During this period, 281 patients were hospitalized,
52.0% were female and an average of 67.4 years old. The
mean length of hospital stay was 8.7 days and most patients
came from the emergency department. The pluripathology,
the polypharmacy and the increasing complexity of the admitted
patients were highlighted. The most common diagnosis
was community-acquired pneumonia. There were little
intercurrence during hospitalization and in 22 cases (7.8%)
there was a need to return to the hospital. The majority of
patients were referred to outpatient hospital after discharge,
and the clinical stability prevailed at 30 days post-discharge.
Conclusion: This model of hospital admission has demonstrated
the potential to embrace more and more patients,
and the experience of the first Portuguese unit will certainly
contribute to the expansion to other hospitals in the country.