There are many ways to take medications, especially if your elderly family member has difficulty swallowing pills. Some methods might seem incredibly complex, like home infusion therapy. With the help of skilled nursing care professionals who visit your senior in her home, however, your elderly family member can comfortably keep up with her intravenous medications.
Home Infusion Therapy Defined
Infusion therapy is a type of treatment that most commonly involves receiving medication intravenously. Some people are nervous about infusion therapy, because it usually involves a needle and tubing. The medications used in home infusion therapy are ones that aren’t taken orally, for one reason or another. Infusion therapy is either short-term or ongoing, depending on the reason for therapy. Your senior’s doctor could recommend IV medications for so many reasons, whether chronic or acute, short-term illnesses.
Illnesses Treated through Infusion Therapy
There are various illnesses treated via infusion therapy. Many of them involve some sort of disruption of the gastrointestinal system, which can make medication absorption difficult, if not impossible. This can mean that medications like antibiotics, dehydration relief, and biologics are ones your elderly family member receives intravenously. Illnesses like Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and multiple sclerosis are just a few of the different illnesses that infusion therapy can help your senior manage.
Why Get Infusions at Home?
Your senior may have several reasons for embracing infusion therapy at home. One of the biggest reasons can be to ensure that your elderly family member is as comfortable as possible while she’s undergoing treatments. Often the focus is on quality of life, especially when your senior already deals with health issues that are exhausting for her. If your elderly family member is homebound and can’t easily get to treatments at a hospital or her doctor’s office, infusion therapy at home can make all the difference.
How Home Infusion Works
After your senior’s doctor prescribes home infusion therapy, skilled nursing care is the next step. Home health care services set up an initial visit to explain what your elderly family member needs to know. There might be equipment that your senior needs to have in her home for future treatment sessions, so those get delivered before her treatments start. When treatments start, skilled nursing care providers arrive and walk your elderly family member through each treatment. They’re there to monitor your senior while she receives her medication, and watch for signs of problems with her treatment.
If your elderly family member already receives IV medications, home treatment may be a solid option for her. Talk with her medical providers about whether home infusion therapy is right for her. This one change could help your elderly family member be much more comfortable, while getting the medications she needs.
