Every patient’s needs are different, and that is why health care systems have different levels of care and treatment for a variety of patients, to ensure they get the care they need.
But figuring out what kind of bed – or health care space – you are occupying, or may need, is not easy.
You may read a news report that talks about continuing care, or an acute care bed, or a supportive living facility – here’s a list that should help you understand what that health care jargon actually means.
Acute Care:
Acute care hospitals are where active treatment is provided and pertains to beds for the provision of care of diseased, injured, sick or mentally disordered people in an approved hospital according to the Hospitals Act.
Sub-acute care:
Sub-acute care can be provided in an acute care facility or an auxiliary hospital for the purpose of receiving convalescent and/or rehabilitation services, where it is anticipated that they will achieve their functional potential to enable them to improve their health status and to successfully return to the community.
Continuing care:
An integrated range of services supporting the health and wellbeing of individuals living in their own home, a supportive living or long-term care setting. Continuing care clients are not defined by age, diagnosis or the length of time they may require service, but by their need for care.
Home care:
Publicly funded health care and support services provided to eligible clients as governed by the Alberta Home Care Program Regulations of the Public Health Act. These services are provided to individuals living with frailty, disability, acute or chronic illness living at home or in a supportive living setting.
Supportive living:
A home-like setting where people can maintain control over their lives while also receiving the support they need. The buildings are specifically designed with common areas and features to allow individuals to “age in place”. Building features include private spaces and a safe, secure and barrier free environment. Supportive living promotes residents’ independence and aging in place through the provision of services such as 24-hour monitoring, emergency response, security, meals, housekeeping and life-enrichment activities. Publicly funded personal care and health services are provided to supportive living residents based on assessed unmet needs.
Supportive living includes comprehensive services such as the availability of 24-hour nursing care (levels 3 or 4). Supportive Living 4-Dementia is also available for those individuals living with moderate to severe dementia or cognitive impairment. Albertans accessing supportive living services generally reside in lodges, retirement communities or supportive living centres.
Long-term care:
Long-term care is reserved for those with unpredictable and complex health needs, usually multiple chronic and/or unstable medical conditions. Long-term care includes health and personal care services, such as 24-hour nursing care provided by registered nurses or licensed practical nurses. Long-term care includes auxiliary hospital and nursing home beds. Auxiliary hospitals pertains to all beds, in an approved hospital, for the provision of services for inpatients who have a long term or chronic illness and/or functional disability (physical or mental) whose potential for rehabilitation may be limited and who require a range of therapeutic services, medical management, and skilled nursing care, plus provision for meeting psychosocial needs. Nursing Home pertains to all beds for the provision of nursing home services as prescribed in the Nursing Homes Regulations in an approved nursing home.
Rapid flow beds:
ED Rapid Flow Beds are acute care beds specifically intended to relieve the pressure in Emergency Departments and allow for faster admission for individuals while they await transfer to other areas of the facility depending on what kind of care they require.
Restorative care:
Restorative care is defined as interventions which focus on maximizing an optimal level of functioning, enabling patients to regain/retain their independence following the debilitating effects of illness or injury. Restorative care can be provided in home, or in specialized units in long-term care facilities or acute care hospitals.
Complex Needs:
These are Individuals who have high, complex and multiple health issues in their lives, who are frequent and ongoing recipients of services from multiple government programs (hospital/ambulatory/community-based health/community organizations with multiple transitions. For these patients, a high need for coordination exists, and may require a tailored funding package along with a holistic, client-centered and coordinated approach to service delivery.
ALC (Alternate Level of Care):
(ALC) is used in health care settings to describe persons who occupy a bed in a facility (ie. acute care hospital) but no longer require the intensity of resources and services provided in that setting. ALC identifies a person who has completed the acute care phase of his or her treatment but remains in an acute or sub-acute care bed.
Add your comment
