Analysis of the Cochrane Review: Early Discharge Hospital at Home. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;6:CD000356.

Abstract

Hospital at home is a service that provides active treatment by healthcare professionals in the patient’s home for a condition that otherwise would require acute hospital in-patient care. However, the clinical benefit of this intervention and its effect on health costs are not established. This Cochrane systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness and costs of managing patients with hospital at home compared with inpatient hospital care. A systematic review of the literature was carried out by searching the following databases to 9 January 2017: Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group (EPOC) register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, EconLit and clinical trials registries. Thirty-two randomized trials (2 of which unpublished), including 4746 patients, were included. The present review provides insufficient objective evidence of economic benefit (through a reduction in hospital length of stay) or improved health outcomes.

Keywords

• Alta Hospitalar
• Custos de Cuidados de Saúde
• Mortalidade
• Reinternamento
• Revisão Sistemática
• Serviços Hospitalares de Assistência Domiciliar