In the Eye of the Storm:A Quantitative and Qualitative Account of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Dutch Home Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected healthcare delivery across the world. However, little is known about COVID-19's impact on home healthcare (HHC) services. Our study aimed to: (1) describe the changes in volume and intensity of HHC services and the crisis management policies implemented; (2) understand the responses and the experiences of HHC staff and clients. We conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods study. First, retrospective client data (N = 43,495) from four Dutch HHC organizations was analyzed. Second, four focus group interviews were conducted for the strategic, ta... Mehr ...

Verfasser: van den Bulck, Anne O E
de Korte, Maud H
Metzelthin, Silke F
Elissen, Arianne M J
Everink, Irma H J
Ruwaard, Dirk
Mikkers, Misja C
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: van den Bulck , A O E , de Korte , M H , Metzelthin , S F , Elissen , A M J , Everink , I H J , Ruwaard , D & Mikkers , M C 2022 , ' In the Eye of the Storm : A Quantitative and Qualitative Account of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Dutch Home Healthcare ' , International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , vol. 19 , no. 4 , 2252 . https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042252
Schlagwörter: COVID-19/epidemiology / Delivery of Health Care / Humans / Pandemics / Retrospective Studies / SARS-CoV-2 / descriptive statistics / SERVICES / patients / home care services / nurses / COVID-19 pandemic / management / focus groups
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26664386
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/publications/8887cdb8-55a0-47c3-8a72-a67cf7013c91

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected healthcare delivery across the world. However, little is known about COVID-19's impact on home healthcare (HHC) services. Our study aimed to: (1) describe the changes in volume and intensity of HHC services and the crisis management policies implemented; (2) understand the responses and the experiences of HHC staff and clients. We conducted an explanatory sequential mixed methods study. First, retrospective client data (N = 43,495) from four Dutch HHC organizations was analyzed. Second, four focus group interviews were conducted for the strategic, tactical, operational, and client levels of the four HHC organizations. Our results showed that both the supply of and demand for Dutch HHC decreased considerably, especially during the first wave (March-June 2020). This was due to factors such as fear of infection, anticipation of a high demand for COVID-19-related care from the hospital sector, and lack of personal protective equipment. The top-down management style initially applied made way for a more bottom-up approach in the second wave (July 2020-January 2021). Experiences vary between levels and waves. HHC organizations need more responsive protocols to prevent such radical scaling-back of HHC in future crises, and interventions to help HHC professionals cope with crisis situations.