| Abstract: | Many children with chronic illness or handicapping conditions may not need continual or frequent institutional care, provided that suitable home care services are available Yet, planning and experimentation with the concept of pediatric home care is just begining on both the national and local levels and the concept of home care has yet to become widely understood and accepted As a result, health planners and policy makers often fail to realize the potential advantage of home care to children, to families, and to society Instead of seeing it as the most humane and effective way of caring for the chronically ill child, they see it as an increased financial burden They also lack the perspective needed to realize that home care is ultimately the most cost-effective health care alternative, since it involves investing in people rather than in buildings or equipment This report attempts to disseminate more widely the concept of home care by recounting a 2-year experience with a hospital-based pediatric home care service. |
