Unsafe medication
usage among patients, especially the elderly,
is one of the leading contributors to hospital
readmissions. The
Saint Barnabas Home Care Agencies are integrating
a specialized Medication Management Program
to assist patients in maintaining safe
and effective medication administration
practices at home. Any person who
is taking multiple medications may be
eligible for a Visiting Nurse through
Saint Barnabas Home Health.
The Home Care Agencies of the
Saint Barnabas Health Care System have added
a telephone follow up component to the existing
CHF program in which a Cardiac Nurses Specialist
monitors a patient every day by phone,
or via a home visit, for his/her entire
length of stay with home care. In
addition, after discharge from Home Care
Services, daily telephone contact with
the patient is continued, for an additional
30 days, in an effort to prevent hospital
readmission. This service particularly
pertains to the patient who is no longer
considered “homebound” under
the Medicare guidelines.
Emergency Department clinicians at Clara Maass,
Newark Beth Israel and Saint Barnabas Medical Centers
now have the convenience of the home care rapid
referral process allowing staff to expedite requests
for home care services during the evening and
overnight hours. For patients who
visit the Emergency Department and present
with symptoms that are not appropriate
for observation and do not meet hospital
admission criteria, physicians can fax
the designated referral from directly to
the home care agencies. They can
be confident the patient will be discharged
home knowing he/she will be contacted the
next morning to arrange for a home care
assessment. The patient’s
primary care physician also receives
notification and verifies orders.
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Services and Programs
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