Home Health Care Patients and Safety Hazards in the Home: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

Introduction: Home health care is the fastest growing sector in the health care industry, with an anticipated growth of 66 percent over the next 10 years and with over 7 million patients served each year. With the increasing acuteness of care provided in home health care and the increasing number of frail elderly that make up this patient population, it is important to identify risk factors that affect patient health and safety in this setting. Methods: A convenience sample of 1,561