Home Health & Hospice Week

A new $1.7 million study will examine the effect of home health visits on a less traditional market — patients with HIV. HIV is no longer a death sentence, says Jacquelyn Slomka, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and lead researcher for the study.

The National Institutes of Health called for proposals exploring palliative care for persons living with HIV, including outcomes for quality of life, symptom management, coping and advance care planning, Case Western notes in a release.

Researchers will study two groups of 90 participants diagnosed with HIV at least two years before and having at least one chronic illness. The study will look at them for three years to track the benefits of having professionals provide supportive services through home visits and phone calls. An advanced practice nurse (APRN) and a social worker will visit the patients regularly to provide ongoing assessment of needs in the home environment, assure adequate symptom management, help them follow what their doctors prescribe and marshal community resources.

"If effective, the program can potentially become a model for HIV care in conjunction with their clinical care," Slomka says. "We want to improve the quality of life for persons living with HIV, and by doing so, hopefully improve outcomes for the patient."