“It wasn’t like they were working for the hospital, it’s like they were part of the family.”
When the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) launched its Recovery Care at Home program to bring hospital-level care to patients’ homes, Travis was one of the first people to accept admission and return home to complete his hospital stay.
Diagnosed with pneumonia, he says, “I was in the hospital, and I was anxious and ready to go home.” But he still needed treatment. After determining he was eligible for care at home, the team recommended Recovery Care at Home as an option.
“I was a little apprehensive,” he shares. “I said, ‘How can you be sure I’ll get the same care at home that I get here?’”
Travis says the nurse explained to him that all of his treatment, including IV medications, could be continued in the program. “She told me, ‘We have nurses come out. It’s like a hospital at home.’
“I said, ‘Ok, I’ll try it’ — because like I said, I was ready to go home.”
A new care experience
Back at home, Travis was pleasantly surprised with how seamless the care delivery was. “They told me two nurses would be coming out, and that they were going to call and notify me before they come,” he explains. “Sure enough, when the nurse came out, she called me and introduced herself, and told me when she was going to be here.”
He adds, “She was here the exact time she said she was going to be here. She had my IV, my meds, a scale and she drew blood. It was really the same service you would get in the hospital.”
To bring those services to his home, Travis explains that the nursing staff connected him with virtual care as well, using technology. “It was great,” he says. “They had a laptop and all my history and knew everything there was to know about me. The doctor on call would come on and they would do a follow-up. He would ask me questions, and I had an opportunity to ask him questions. It was a great experience.”
More comfortable at home
As he continued to recover at home, any worries Travis had about hospital-level care at home disappeared. “It wasn’t like they were working for the hospital, it’s like they were part of the family,” he shares.
“I would recommend it to anybody. This is the perfect setting, it really is. You’re in your own house, you’re comfortable. They clean up, they make sure everything is in order when they leave. If you have any questions, you can pose them to them, and if they don’t have the answers then, they get the doctor on the phone and do telemed and you’re talking directly to your doctor.”
A second admission
Several months later, Travis had to pay the hospital another visit and was happy to return home with Recovery Care at Home again.
“I had two different nurses this time, and they did just as well as the first two,” he says. “Everything was fine, and after it was all said and done, I felt a whole lot better. Everyone was top notch. You would think they’d been doing this program for years.”
Having fully recovered, Travis adds, “I am taking better care of myself. I feel better than I ever did. I would recommend UAMS to anybody.
“You know the treatment you’re getting at the hospital. The question is, can they really do the same thing at home? And they really can.”