Mobile integrated care is a care model developed in Skaraborg, and it has become a national role model. In the research project "Mobile integrated care in Skaraborg", researchers will study how patients and family members experience mobile home care. The project was awarded a research grant of 2.8 million from the Kamprad Family Foundation.
The care model "Mobile integrated care" was developed in Skaraborg in a close collaboration between the municipalities and the region. Mobile care started out on a small scale in 2008, and in 2013 it was implemented throughout Skaraborg. The following year, the care model was implemented in the entire Västra Götaland region. This model for integrated care has become a role model nationally.
Doctors and health care staff work together in teams
Mobile intergrated care has three components, and it is the third component, Mobile home doctor, that will be studied in the research project "Mobile integrated care in Skaraborg". The project was recently granted funds of 2.8 million to study "Simpler and better solutions for complex issues in healthcare" from the Kamprad Family Foundation. The funds will be used for further studies on what it is like to receive mobile intergrated care, where a doctor from the patient's health centre works in a team with nurses, health care staff and rehab staff in the municipality's intergrated care programme.
Measuring the feeling of well-being experienced
Before patients are appointed an intergrated care doctor, they and their family members are interviewed, and they answer surveys where they rate their feeling of well-being and to what extent they feel like they are being treated in a home-like setting. This is done continuously throughout the study to measure any changes in their experiences. One study has already been conducted concerning patients' and family members' experiences of intergrated care. Doctors and nurses have also been interviewed about what it is like to provide patients in a Mobile integrated care programme.
– We have some preliminary findings in the study. We can already see that the patients have a stronger feeling of security in this care model, says Catharina Gillsjö, Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Skövde and project manager for "Mobile integrated care in Skaraborg".
Cross-border care
The aim of the project is to develop an understanding for the effect of the care model on the well-being of patients and their family members over time.
– There is a risk that the patients experience intrusion on their privacy when health care staff come into their homes. You may even feel like you have lost your sense of it being your home. That is why it is important to study how patients experience well-being and the sense of home in this care model, says Catharina Gillsjö.
We will also study to what extent patients and family members feel that they are part of the process and have influence on how the care is performed and developed. The idea is to study whether this care model meets the goal of creating cross-border care. Our aim is to make it seamless.
– We would like to present the results from the study on a regional, national, as well as international level. We hope to contribute to development of health care in a positive way. It is all about health, quality of life, and the feeling of having a purpose, says Catharina Gillsjö.
Three years' duration
The project is a joint effort and also includes Vårdsamverkan Skaraborg. It will be launched in January 2020 and will run for three years. We are going to start the recruiting phase for a PhD-student to join the team shortly. Catharina Gillsjö and Jenny Hallgren, Senior Lecturer in Nursing at the University of Skövde, work together in this project. Parts of the study are carried out in collaboration with researchers form the University of Rhode Island in the United States.