Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Home Health and Home Care Agency Managers, Clients, and Aides: A Cross-Sectional Survey, March to June, 2020

Details

• Personal Author:
  Carter CN ; Galligan CJ ; Gore RJ ; Karlsson ND ; Kriebel D ; Lindberg JE ; Markkanen PK ; Osei-Poku G ; Prentice JC ; Quinn, Margaret M. ; Sama SR
• Description:
  Home health and home care (HH&HC) agencies provide essential medical and supportive services to elders and people with disabilities, enabling them to live at home. Home-based care is an important alternative to facility-based care, especially for infection prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the HH&HC workforce is comprised of aides, who also are vulnerable to COVID-19. There are limited data on the COVID-19 experience of HH&HC agencies, clients and aides. A survey of Massachusetts HH&HC agency managers was conducted June 1 to 30, 2020 to assess the impact of COVID-19 on agencies, clients, and aides early in the pandemic and to identify needs for future pandemic planning. Of the 94 agencies with completed surveys, most (59.6%) provided services to clients with COVID-19 and 3-quarters (73.7%) employed aides who tested positive for COVID-19, were symptomatic, and/or quarantined. Most agencies (98.7%) experienced a decrease in demand for home visits, reflecting clients' concern about infection, family members assuming care duties, and/or aides being unavailable for work. Simultaneously, managers' workloads increased to develop more extensive infection prevention policies, procedures and workforce training and sourcing scarce personal protective equipment (PPE). The COVID-19 pandemic imposed substantial new infection prevention responsibilities on HH&HC agencies, clients, and aides. Specific HH&HC needs for future pandemic planning include complete information on the infection status of clients; ready access to affordable PPE and disinfectants; and guidance, tools, and training tailored for the industry. HH&HC should be incorporated more fully into comprehensive healthcare and public health pandemic planning. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Health Personnel Home Care Services Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic COVID-19 Cross Sectional Studies Elder Care Health Care Personnel Home Care Home Care Aides Home Health Aides Home Health Care Household Workers Infection Prevention Personal Protective Equipment PPE

  More +
• ISSN:
  1084-8223
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  125-129
• Volume:
  33
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068178
• Citation:
  Home Health Care Manag Pract 2021 May; 33(2):125-129
• Contact Point Address:
  Margaret M. Quinn, Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Safe Home Care Project, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 600 Suffolk Street, Suite 520, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
• Email:
  Margaret_Quinn@uml.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts - Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  Home Health Care Management and Practice
• End Date:
  20230831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0951c7490f14dc84573f48c465736215699acf10917ade1312dd978999115acfedc6ffe191501f4bf32acd821cf3f69ed8e489fe8377ca395d22cb5ee3f24077
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230388/cdc_230388_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 102.50 KB ]