[Proposing a workload indicator for hospital at home patients in Osakidetza - Basque Public Health Service]. / Propuesta de un indicador de cargas de trabajo en la atención de pacientes en hospitalización a domicilio de Osakidetza ­ Servicio Vasco de Salud.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The Hospital at Home (HaH) setting currently lacks adequate workload indicators. This study suggests an indicator that can help in improving professional resources allocation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective data was collected during May 2021 from patients treated in nine HaH units of Osakidetza-Basque Health Service (North of Spain). Direct care and travel times of healthcare staff was recorded. Data on inpatient days, number of visits, sociodemographic variables, health status, and patient pathologies, among others, were collected. The proposed indicator encompasses both the average visit time and the visit rates. It is called intensity and represents the average daily workload time per patient. RESULTS: A total of n = 1,171 users were included in the analyses. Their mean age was 69.8 years, 45.5% were women and 25% lived more than 12 km away from the corresponding HaH unit. Workload variations were observed for nursing-only and medical-nursing teams, depending on the type of day and patient classification group. The average nursing-only teams workload time on working days was 10.82 min and on non-working days it was 14.78 min. The average workload time for medical-nursing teams, during the same days, was 20.40 min and 4.59 min, respectively. It was observed that certain patient types, like those in palliative care, represented a high workload for medical-nursing teams on working days. CONCLUSIONS: The intensity indicator can help answering the question of how many patients can be assigned to a professional. It can also be used to adjust the staffing needs of the HaH units.

[Factors associated with the hospital at home workload: A Delphi consensus study]. / Factores relacionados con la carga de trabajo en hospitalización a domicilio: estudio de consenso Delphi.

OBJECTIVES: To identify and prioritize a list of factors that contribute to the workload of the hospital at home (HaH) professionals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A qualitative methodology study performed between January and December 2019 in the 10 HAH units of the Basque Country. The data were obtained in 4phases: 1. Systematic literature search and review; 2. Expert group meeting; 3. Consensus method: Delphi technique (2 survey rounds) and nominal group meeting; 4. Meeting of the research team. RESULTS: In the systematic literature search and review 85 factors were initially identified. These were reduced to 38 after the 8-person expert group meeting, in which 10 new factors were added. After the 2 Delphi rounds (106 and 57 professionals, respectively), 17 factors were maintained and 12 remained in doubt. The latter were evaluated at the nominal group meeting, consisting of 13 professionals who decided to eliminate 5 factors, include 3, and keep 3 as doubt. After the 8-person research team meeting, 14 potential factors were finally selected. They are related to the place of residence, the health state and social situation of the patients, as well as the health care provided at home. CONCLUSIONS: The identified factors could serve for improving the organization and optimize the daily word of the HaH professionals.