Home Assessment Visits within the Acute Setting: a Discussion and Literature Review

Abstract

The emphasis on the effective and efficient use of finite resources within acute hospitals has led to close attention being paid to the length of patients' hospital stay and the assessment of risk in facilitating timely hospital discharge. Occupational therapy home assessment visits are valued by the multidisciplinary team as a means of assessing a patient's level of function and environmental risk to ensure safe discharge from hospital. Occupational therapists' education and training and experience mean that they are well placed to predict levels of function postdischarge and to anticipate any problems that may occur in activities of daily living. However, for patients the home assessment visit can be a stressful and bewildering experience. The short-term focus on equipment provision combined with limited postdischarge intervention may not meet patient and carer expectations or concerns with longer-term issues. Although there is a body of evidence to support this intervention, the requirement for evidence-based practice means that there is a need for additional research around the areas of optimal timing, selection of patient groups, therapist's rationale, patient and carer perspectives and any effect that home assessments may have on readmission rates. This paper discusses the literature in relation to the practice of home assessment visits from the acute setting.