Therapeutic home care provides a service in the community by caring for the frail and vulnerable in the comfort of their own home. This type of care helps families and patients to have more access to the care they need, and which is more affordable and is beneficial to all parties. This type of care is more accessible, especially where families have to work and still care for a family member that is critically ill or at the end stage of life. Also, those who are frail and who do not want to go to a facility, but prefer to stay in the environment they know and where they are more comfortable.

This type of care has influence factors that need to be taken into consideration. When a family must decide or plan about home care, they need to think about factors like illness, disability, lack of transport, funds, etc. Then, on the other hand, things like effectiveness and goals for the patient. However, this type of care also raises ethical concerns regarding boundaries, confidentiality, and confusion of roles. Concerns beyond the scope of practice and abuse vice versa.

Home care is becoming more common and people who wish to make use of home care must be mindful of all these boundaries, limitations, and obstacles that can happen when contracting these home care services. A professional service with boundaries must always be kept, and the patient’s privacy must be protected.

The benefit of this type of care is that patients may recover more quickly when they are at home because they are more relaxed in their own homes. The patient progresses better and treatment is more effective, and healing is happening more easily. 

If your choice is a nursing company that provides a more holistic team approach, the patient and family have more resources, and this provides the patient and family with a team of experts to look after the person they care about.

This may lead to treatment challenges but also benefits the family or patient by getting better care on an individual care approach. In the long-term, this can have financial implications if the family has to pay for these services themselves. That is why it is better to make sure that if you’re on medical aid, that these benefits make up part of your package, and if not find out what benefits for these services are available from your specific medical aid.

Make sure that the nursing company you decide to use can provide clear evidence of what they offer and what type of care they provide. Have they checked the staff credentials, are they properly qualified? Be careful to take just anyone into your home. Do they have an emergency system in place if something goes wrong at home? How do they send the carer to your home? Do they do staff evaluations? 

Give families and the people they love the opportunity to decide how they want to spend the last few months or years of their lives and give them their dignity and let them choose how they want to be cared for.

Bio‐ Antionette Potgieter, RN, Santro Nursing Care (PTY) LTD, SA

I started my nursing care at the Sasolburg Provincial Hospital in Sasolburg Free State in 1984. I completed the 2 years Enrolled Nurse Certificate and then the 2 years bridging course through the VKOVS. We were the 3rd group in the hospital completing this course. Nursing is my passion and since I can remember I wanted to be a nurse. I spent my holiday volunteering in the same hospital where I did my training. I also had been corresponding with a SR Pretorius from Bloemfontein during that time while I was still in high school. I qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1994. 

Currently, I am a Private Nursing Practitioner and my field of expertise includes wound care, simple to advance wound care, stoma care, incontinence care, palliative care, home base care, IV therapy, diabetic care, catheter care, general nursing, phlebotomy, and case management. I also do training in wound care, health and safety in the home for caregivers, a 6-month caregivers course, and a customer care course. These courses are all available at our practice and facility. We are currently busy with some new courses in peg feeding, pressure care, and diabetes care.