Assessment > Home Visit

Home Visit Preparation

Preparing for a home visit

The health professional attending the home visit:

Contacts the patient

Obtains the patients’ consent to come to their home to prescribe a home exercise program

Makes an appointment for the home visit – inform the patient to allow approximately 1.5 – 2.0 hours

Explains the program

Before the decision is made to proceed with home-based rehabilitation, the following needs to be addressed:

The visiting health professional must have a mobile phone and a car

Ascertain language skills and cognitive ability of the patient

Does the patient have a dog or other animals that may be an issue during the assessment

Review the  Working safely in visiting health services resource (2.4 pages 11-18)

Security:

The security of the home assessor must be strictly monitored. As well as completing the “Health Workers Safety” check list prior to the home visit, the following options should be considered:

Attend with a colleague

Send a colleague an SMS message which includes the patients’ address, time of arrival and anticipated completion time

Message again at the completion of the visit once they have left the premises

Provide the health professional with a duress alarm (eg Work Safe Guardian)

Prior to the home visit the visiting health professional will:

Ask the patient if they have any exercise equipment or if they attend a gym or pool

Calculate the exercise prescription for the patient based on the field walking test results

Ascertain the possible appointment times for the weekly telephone calls

Discuss appropriate footwear for the walking component of the program