Community Parenteral Therapy Project: A pilot study

Abstract

The pilot study reported in this paper was devised to develop and compare service delivery models that would achieve the provision of high quality parenteral therapy care to patients in the Gold Coast District Health Service community. All data were collected on 113 patients for a 12-month period, January to December 1996. The study compared the provision of outreach nursing services and contracted nursing services on measures of satisfaction and cost. The study showed that patient and carers indicated a preference for community care, medical officers advocated the benefits of administering parenteral therapies in the community, general practitioners were interested in managing future community parenteral therapies, and contracted (nurse) service providers endorsed the development of a parenteral therapy resource centre. The findings also revealed considerable potential cost savings in community-based care.

An emergency department tackles bed management and home-based care

“…PATH endeavoured to extend this service into short-term antibiotic therapy for community-acquired pneumonia, cellulitis and pyelonephritis. Research into this type of service is less extensive, though several hospitals in Australia have successfully trialled such services (KPMG 1996;Montalto & Dunt 1997;Foster & McMurray 1998;Montalto 1998). Other conditions suitable for hospital-inthe-home programs include cancer chemotherapy, total parenteral nutrition, and post-operative supportive treatment (Grayson 1998).…”