(ATDN) Treatment at Home

(ATDN) Treatment at Home

Treatment Review #15; December 1994

Staying out of the hospital doesn't just save you and your insurance company money, though that is an important consideration. Staying out of the hospital can also help keep your spirits up, because you will feel more in control of your treatment instead of feeling like you've been taken away from your life and put in a hospital bed where others are making decisions for you. And most importantly, staying out of the hospital can mean avoiding infections you can get during a hospital stay, especially if you have to be in for a long time.

Although development of drugs for the treatment of HIV infection can seem maddeningly slow, progress has been made in prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections associated with HIV. What's the old saying - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? You may be taking more than an ounce of pills and vitamins every day to hold an infection in check, or to make sure you don't get one you've been exposed to. But as people are living longer with HIV, staying out of the hospital becomes a goal along with prevention.

Diseases that people get while in the hospital are called nosocomial infections. Most nosocomial infections are bacterial. Most people can successfully fight them off, but people with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to getting infections. Staph and some pneumonias are bacterial infections. Bacteria are everywhere - on clothing, walls, blankets, and medical equipment. Hospital workers can pass them on by hand. Some bacteria cling to plastic and travel up tubes inserted into the body.

If you need to go into the hospital, this is not meant to scare you more. Some procedures can only be done in the hospital. But many can be done at home. Even intravenous treatments that used to be considered too complicated and difficult to be done outside the hospital can now be done at home. Your doctor and a home health care service will work with you to make sure you know how to give yourself the treatment, and how to dispose of the needles, tubes and the other things used for your medical care. If you do have to go into the hospital, talk to your doctor about how long you might have to stay in, and if arrangements can be made to continue treatment at home. Private insurance companies, Medicaid, and New York State's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP Home Care) all pay for home care services.

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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeard in 1994. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

Copyright © 1994 - AIDS Treatment Data Network. If you want to copy, reproduce or excerpt this information, please give us a call at (800) 734-7104. This helps up to keep track of where and how this information is being used. You can also Email us at network@atdn.org http://206.179.124.69/network/index.html

This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
©1994. AEGIS.