Home care, (also referred to as domiciliary care or social care), is health care or supportive care provided in the patient's home by healthcare professionals (often referred to as home health care or formal care). Often, the term home care is used to distinguish non-medical care or custodial care, which is care that is provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors, or other licensed medical personnel, as opposed to home health care that is provided by licensed personnel.
Licensed personnel and other persons who assist the individual may be referred to as caregivers. Caregivers may help the individual with such daily tasks as bathing, eating, cleaning the home and preparing meals.
For terminally ill patients, home care may include hospice care. For patients recovering from surgery or illness, home care may include rehabilitative assistance.
Read more about Home Care: Research and Program Accreditation
Famous quotes containing the words home and/or care:
“I come from the city of Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,”
—John Collins Bossidy (1860–1928)
“Part of the pain in leaving our children to go to work is that we miss them, wish we could be with them. We also hate to turn them over to someone who is not identical to us, who will do things, at best, differently—at worst, in ways we don’t believe are good for children. We are up against this whenever we share the care of our children with others—even grandparents or trusted and loved ones.”
—Joan Sheingold Ditzion (20th century)