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Fit for Duty: Lessons Learned from Outpatient and Homebound Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation to Prepare Family Caregivers for Home-Based Care. Transplant Cell Ther 2023 Mar;29(3):143-150

Date

12/27/2022

Pubmed ID

36572386

Pubmed Central ID

PMC9780643

DOI

10.1016/j.jtct.2022.12.014

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85146470226 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   10 Citations

Abstract

In the past decade, the demand for home-based care has been amplified by the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Home-based care has significant benefits for patients, their families, and healthcare systems, but it relies on the often-invisible workforce of family and friend caregivers who shoulder essential health care responsibilities, frequently with inadequate training and support. Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), a potentially curative but intensive treatment for many patients with blood disorders, is being increasingly offered in home-based care settings and necessitates the involvement of family caregivers for significant patient care responsibilities. However, guidelines for supporting and preparing HCT caregivers to effectively care for their loved ones at home have not yet been established. Here, informed by the literature and our collective experience as clinicians and researchers who care for diverse patients with hematologic malignancies undergoing HCT, we provide considerations and recommendations to better support and prepare family caregivers in home-based HCT and, by extension, family caregivers supporting patients with other serious illnesses at home. We suggest tangible ways to screen family caregivers for distress and care delivery challenges, educate and train them to prepare for their caregiving role, and create an infrastructure of support for family caregivers within this emerging care delivery model.

Author List

Applebaum AJ, Sannes T, Mitchell HR, McAndrew NS, Wiener L, Knight JM, Nelson AJ, Gray TF, Fank PM, Lahijani SC, Pozo-Kaderman C, Rueda-Lara M, Miran DM, Landau H, Amonoo HL

Author

Jennifer M. Knight MD, MS Associate Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Caregivers
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Home Care Services
Humans
Outpatients