ArticleBMJ open2021
Municipal acute care teams as a flexible solution for the treatment of acutely ill patients at-home: a mixed-method study of patients' and caregivers' experiences with an acute care team.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Providing effective and efficient hospital admission avoidance inpatient care: a systematic realist review of Norwegian municipal inpatient acute care services.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Factors influencing the implementation of early discharge hospital at home and admission avoidance hospital at home: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Municipal intermediate care services in Denmark and Norway: a cross-country comparative analysis.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- The Systemic Lottery - A Field Observational Study on the Detection and Management of Acute Events in Care Homes.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Observational
- Mapping Scandinavian Hospital-at-Home Organisations and Interventions for Patients With Acute Somatic Illness-A Scoping Review.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
- Communication strategies amongst healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers in Hospital-at-Home Admission Avoidance models for acutely ill older adults: a scoping review.European geriatric medicine · 2026Review
- Feasibility of micro-costing for hospital-at-home in Danish municipalities: a prospective pilot study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Perceptions and anticipated factors influencing the adoption of early supported discharge through hospital-at-home.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Hybrid Hospital-at-Home Program in Singapore: Ethnographic Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Mobile emergency department care to nursing home residents: a novel outreach service.Age and ageing · 2023Observational
- Healthcare professionals' experience with emergency department-based acute care performed within nursing homes.Age and ageing · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
objectiveDevelopment of initiatives to reduce hospitalisations is a major focus of healthcare planning. Strengthening the community with municipal acute care teams or units is a newly implemented Danish initiative aimed at preventing hospitalisations and supporting more flexible services. This study aims to describe patients treated by a municipal acute care team and to explore patients' and caregivers' experiences with at-home treatment.
designA mixed-method study consisting of descriptive statistics of patients treated by an acute care team, and quantitative and qualitative data from follow-up telephone questionnaires with patients and caregivers.
settingThe acute care team, 'Acute Team Odense' (ATO), in the Odense Municipality, Denmark.
participantsPatients treated by ATO and their caregivers. ATO treated 3231 patients (5676 contacts) in the period of 2018-2019.
resultsAverage number of new contacts per day was 7.8, and the median treatment-length was 1 day. Patients were referred by various healthcare providers and most often by general practitioners, municipal staff and hospital staff. The median age of the patients was 80 years, and 20% were independent before the treatment. In total, 787/5676 contacts received at-home intravenous therapy, which corresponded to 3.6 hospital beds saved per day. The questionnaires were completed by 307/478 patients and 168/254 caregivers. Most respondents stated they would prefer at-home treatment in future similar situations as it enabled them to maintain their lives. Several respondents also experienced that ATO avoided hospitalisations or reduced hospital stays, which was described as a relief.
conclusionATO was frequently used, indicating the demand for community-based acute healthcare. The patients and caregivers experienced that this solution avoided hospitalisations and allowed them to maintain their lives, and this was described as less burdensome. As a result of these findings, this initiative has been continued with an ongoing focus on searching for possibilities aimed to prevent hospitalisations.
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