Bringing Infusion Home
Whether your kiddo is in need of short-term antibiotics, SCIG or IVIG, or life-long parenteral nutrition, we have you covered. Our infusion nurses and pharmacists are ready to meet your individualized needs at home – on your schedule – so you can continue living life uninterrupted at home.
For the parent of a child with medical complexities, going home needing infusion therapy can be a scary experience. The cares their child will need are often new skills for the parent, and being outside of the hospital can be unnerving.
But with PHS there to take care of patient assessment, infusion administration, education, and lab monitoring as needed, life just got a bit easier. We work in coordination with doctors and nurses in the hospital to ensure the transition home is seamless, comprehensive, and stress-free for the family.
Coming Home with Infusion
Prior to discharge, the nurse will come to the hospital or home to do all the education, including play materials so parents can interact with saline flushes, cleaning wipes, end caps, and anything else their kiddo might need for successful infusion care. Nurses also demonstrate everything to know about the process, and how to take care of the child’s central line at home.
When the family is discharged from the hospital, their PHS nurse will bring all the medications and supplies needed. Throughout the time at home, one primary PHS nurse continually works with a family to ensure the most comprehensive and collaborative care is provided for the patient.
“Our infusion department prides itself on understanding the dynamics of each patient, meeting their unique needs, and providing the highest level of care,” says Michelle Curley, Infusion Manager at PHS. “With infusion at home, appointments can happen on the family’s schedule.”
Staying 1-2-3 Infection Free
Focused directly around preventing infections in central lines at home, PHS created the program `123 Infection Free’ to keep kids healthy and at home. This program walks step-by-step through the process of keeping your child infection free each time an infusion is administered, and includes materials such as an infection prevention methods poster, an IV catheter care log, emergency information, and a badge listing warning signs and contacts. The nurse will go through all the details and techniques with the family to ensure their child remains infection free.
Growing With Our Patients
Earlier this year, the infusion pharmacy at PHS expanded to continue meeting the growing population of children with medical complexities in Minnesota. With this expansion came efficiencies in work flow, visibility, and utilization of space.
“Home care is playing a larger role in providing for children with medical complexities,” says Jill Liebers, Pharmacy Manager at PHS. “Thanks to our increased pharmacy capabilities and a rise in infusion therapies that can be delivered at home, we will continue to serve this growing patient population at the highest level possible.”
PHS is the only home care nursing agency in Minnesota with an on-side pharmacy, and provides infusion medications from IVIG and SCIG to antibiotic therapy and enzyme replacement therapy. And thanks to this expansion, staff will be able to focus even more closely on improved patient health and health care savings.
Developing National Guidelines
PHS infusion staff recently created the first – and only – pediatric home care guidelines of central venous access devices (CVADs). Recognizing that caring for the pediatric population is much different than caring for adults, Michelle Curley and Jill Wall, an infusion nurse at PHS, created these guidelines in collaboration with staff from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the National Home Infusion Association (NHIA). They were later asked to write an article based on the guidelines for the Journal of Association of Vascular Access (JAVA), and today, the guidelines are followed by health care professionals nationwide – keeping more kids safe and infection-free.
Keeping Kids at Home
It’s always an incredible thing when children with increasingly complex medical needs are able to live at home, and PHS infusion nursing & pharmacy plays a crucial role in keeping these kids thriving with their families. By being able to provide more therapies at home, PHS is a leader in infusion and will keep working to provide comprehensive care for families and seamless communication with providers. With infusion staff available 24/7, care is never far away. Call 651-642-1825 today for more information about infusion therapy at home.
Would you like to learn more about Infusion Nursing & Pharmacy?
Leave your contact information below and we will be in touch.